Where Love Meets
by cactuslove
Summary: Another RxI Fanfiction. Summaries aren't really my thing but here we go. Ichigo gets another vivacious kiss from Ryou, which only means one thing, she can't take him out of her mind. Her thoughts are stuck on him, now she's found out some shocking news.
1. The Dominant Kiss

Note to self. I've never made a fan fiction before, nor do I own Tokyo Mew Mew. If I did, you bet you could expect different outcomes. But that's beside the point. It's another IchigoxRyou Fan fiction, I swear. And I'll tell you this once, Masaya is a nice guy. It's true so shush.

Constructive criticism, pretty please.

(Written on August 11, 2006)  
**Chapter 1 | The Dominant Kiss **

The crazy red-haired cat girl hurried up the stairs for she was in need to talk to her rich, blonde boss. It was only yesterday night that her long-term perfect boyfriend, Masaya, and she planned another get together the following evening. The plan was to ask Shirogane that morning if she could get off early, then report back to Masaya at school. She had planned the entire day in her head already. She couldn't wait for her date.

She reached for the doorknob and swung it open, revealing something that she didn't expect. Her face turned bright red, as if her head was a match that was just lit. She was in one of her various predicaments. She quickly looked down feeling embarrassed, though she was somewhat getting used to it by now. 'Oh no! I did it again.'

"Don't you ever knock?" hissed her boss, then his expression slowly changed from a growl to a smirk. "Or do you enjoy seeing me like this?"

By the time Ichigo manages to say something, the blonde, attractive yet snobby Ryou had a bigger smirk on his face. He was standing there as he had many times before. His hair was still damped from the shower he took earlier. He had his regular white pants on; his black sleeveless t-shirt was lying on his white covers. She glanced over him, making sure that he doesn't notice, watching as the water droplets fell down his chest. Her face grew even redder.

"N-n-no way, I'm not interested! Can't you just put on a shirt?" She shouted. She knew she must sound like an embarrassed idiot.

"Don't you like the way that I look?" He smirked and laughed. He reached over towards his bed, grabbed his shirt, getting ready to put it on. "Aw, you big baby, would you really feel better if I put it on?"

Ichigo found something in the back of her mind suggestion that she wouldn't. But she shrugged it off. He was nothing to her, just the boss of the Mew Mew Project. He put on his shirt. "What would your amazing Aoyama think if he knew about us..." By then he couldn't help to have a bigger smile placed upon his face, but Ichigo's face still looked the same as before.

"What? There's nothing between us. I love Masaya and I hate you!"

"Yeah yeah, what do you want this time?" He demanded. 'Probably wants a higher salary or a day off. That baka.'

"O-oh, I was wondering if I could get off work ear-" She was shortly interrupted.

"No." His answer was plain and simple. He didn't want to hear anything more. "You're always late, you slack off way too much, and.. you're always day dreaming! Besides, you- You just can't."

She wasn't blushing anymore. She was filled with anger towards him. He was always complaining about the things that she did, or didn't do. As if it was never enough for him. If she were to slack off for a minute, he would be right behind her, ready to make a sharp statement about her faults.

"That's not true! And you know it. I'm always doing the work around here. I work the hardest..." Her speech could go on but it was always short.

Yet Ryou stopped listening to his nagging superhero cat girl after the first couple words. He knew exactly what she was going to say. It was the same rowdy speech she gives every time they get into an argument about her job.

"Baka Strawberry!"

She stopped in the middle of her speech. Though Ryou thought that it would make her shush up even for a minute, it didn't seem to work. "I am! I am not the idiot here! You're the idiot. You think you're so smart just because you have a hi-"

Suddenly she felt a gentle fingertip pressing against her lips. They were suggesting to her not to say another word. She couldn't help but to blush. She didn't even notice that he came closer to her, or even reached out to touch her. "Sh-shir-Shirogane?" She stared deep into his bright aqua eyes, completely unaware of what he was going to do next.

He grabbed her by the waist then pulled her closer. Before she knew it, his lips were pressed against her own. 'He's.. He's kissing me?' And the transformation began. She was the lovable black cat with the big pink bow on her tail. Ryou picked up the kitten laughing.

"Well we can't have you be the kissing menace again..." He kissed her once more.

He noticed something different from all of the other times. He had kissed her several times when he was Alto, saving her when she was the little kitten. She didn't fall over. She was standing tall, her body was still wrapped around Ryou's arms. Only after a couple minutes, she started to pull away. He was holding on to her tight. He decided to end the kiss after a couple minutes of her attempts.

"Shirogane..."

"You can have the day off, now go." He turned around, walked towards his window, and looked outside. The sky was bright blue. There wasn't a single cloud insight.

"Shi.. Shirogane?"

Ryou hesitated for a moment. He decided that was the best thing to do. "You're going to be late." He figured that it would be the only thing to get her going. After all, she's always late for her classes.

"Oh no!" She shouted as she realized exactly how late it had gotten. "I'm never going to make it." She rushed out of his bedroom, down the stairs and out the cafe doors.

Ryou turned around to face his empty bedroom. 'Baka Strawberry.' He signed, and then laid down on his bed. He glanced up at the ceiling, reached for his lips. "Did she kiss me back?" He couldn't believe it. "No, must be just my imagination. It can't be..." He sighed. 'Baka Strawberry. Baka Aoyama.'

Ichigo managed to reach her school just as the bell rung. It didn't save her enough time to find Masaya to tell her that she would be available. "During Lunch Time!" She said with huge amounts of determination." In all the rush, she completely forgot about the kiss with Ryou. As Lunch Time came around, she managed to find Masaya to inform him about the good news.

"Yeah! He said it would be okay."

Masaya smiled with relief. "I'm glad. Would you meet me at the park after you get off?"

"Sure!"

**- Q -**

"I'm going to be late. I'm going to be late. I'm going to be laaaate!"

Ichigo giggled as she floated into the Pink Cafe, only thinking of the evening plans with Masaya. Ryou was on top of the stairs waiting for her to come in. He knew that she would be late. This time he would not accept any of her excuses.

"Ahh, hey Ichigo!" The three Mews welcomed her, Zakura simply nodded in her direction. They looked at her curiously wondering how she could be floating, especially when she's going to hear it from Ryou, once again.

"I guess.. Must have a date with Masaya later." Retasu suggested.

"You're late." The unpleasant voiced yelled out.

"I know! I know!" She didn't bother to plead with him. She wasn't ready for him to ruin her evening. "I'll get to work right now." She floated off into the direction of the changing rooms.

During her entire shift, she would randomly get into day dreams about what could possibly happen, as she held up one or two plates in the air. Ryou would come right up to her, flick her nose, demanding that she would stop fooling around and tend to the customers. This only made her drop more plates. "Nya."

"If you're going to act like that, then you can forget about taking off early."

"But you already said I could!"

"Whatever." He glared at her. "Just get back to work. Stop fooling around."

She looked at him carefully. He looked so innocent there, just in that moment though. She quickly glanced away, only to find herself staring at his lips. She remembered the kiss from the morning. 'I.. I.. I'

"Get back to work!" He shouted to her. He walked back upstairs.

Time flew by quickly. Though she did continue to slack off, she managed to break some more plates, Ryou didn't bother to come downstairs and say something to her. This completely shocked her, just a little. Ichigo told Akasaka that she would be leaving now. He suggested that it would be best to tell Ryou also. She nodded and went off to change.

Ichigo raced upstairs, trying not to waste a minute, opened the door. He was laying on his bed with his eyes wide open. He didn't blink at all, he stayed with his deep thoughts. He looked calm. Almost relaxed. He looked as if he wasn't there anymore, but in another world thousands of miles away.

"Uh.. Shirogane?"

Reality snapped back faster than he could look over to see who it was. 'The nosy red-head. Is she leaving?' He got up, walking towards her.

"What is it?"

"I'll be leaving now, alrighty, bye bye!"

Before she could turn all the way around, Ryou reached for her hand. He held it tight. Ichigo turned around. He didn't look angry anymore, just a little bit confused, or worried, or another emotion. He was hard to read. Ichigo started to blush slightly in the cheeks.

"You, um, you look nice."

"Shirogane..."

He let go of her hands, said his goodbye, and then turned around. She walked out of the room, only to glance back at the mysterious blonde, wondering what was on his mind.

Ryou sighed. She was gone. 'What am I doing?"

Ichigo ran straight to the park. She was worried that Masaya would of gave up on waiting for her, even though she knew that he was willing to wait for her no matter what. She thought of the first time that he told her that he loved her. She was late, as always. She ran to meet him at the train station, the rain couldn't stop her. Though when she arrived, he wasn't in sight, but the minute he came into her sight, he told her the truth. Masaya loved her. He always has and always will. He would have for her forever. Masaya wouldn't just leave. 'He said he'll always wait for me.' She smiled with some relief as she saw Masaya waiting on the bench, not even bothering looking at the time. 'He'll understand; he always does.'

So Ichigo met up with Masaya as they had planned. Except the date was nothing like the ones that she imagined earlier. She wasn't smiling as often as all of the other times. She wasn't giddy, she felt somewhat giddy, but it couldn't be from Masaya. Masaya kept questioning her if there was something bothering her. He could tell. She wasn't her regular self.

She guessed that she might not be feeling so hot. She said it was nothing though, something that he shouldn't worry about. 'Something that no one should worry about...'

She thought that she couldn't hope up this any longer. She didn't want to drag down Masaya's day.

"I think I'm going to go home and lay down for a while."

"That's a good idea." He was still smiling. "I hope you feel better tomorrow." He gave her a little kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks. Thanks a lot." She smiled back at him and walked the other way.

She couldn't get her mind off of what had happened earlier. Not only their kiss, but now it was the holding of her hand. It was the nice comment that he made about her. He hasn't done that often. 'Why am I even thinking of him? He's just so mean to me all the time. He's always yelling at me. Always calling me an idiot. How dare he kiss me! I love Masaya...'

**End | Chapter 1**

I'll write up chapter 2 after. Need. Sleep.


	2. A Desperate Solution

I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew. If I did, then a nice boy like Masaya wouldn't end up with Ichigo. She'd be jumping into Ryou's arms right now. Um, yeah.

(Written on August 11, 2006)**  
Chapter 2 | A Desperate Solution**

Ichigo sighs as she gets into the bath tub. "It's been a long day; I can't believe what happened..." A short glimpse of Ryou reaching in to kiss her passed through her mind. She starts to blush then realizes that her cat ears have popped out. "Why am I getting excited? It's only Ryou after all. He's not that great... He's just... He's... I don't know anymore." Ichigo sighs again and ducks her head into warm water. She's been feeling confused about her relationships a lot lately, but the incident with Ryou just made it worse for her.

"I guess I'm just confused about my emotions. I know I shouldn't be, I love Masaya," she says lightly as if she didn't want anyone to hear her. "But then why did I kiss him back?"

"Kissu kissu!" A familiar voice repeats in a perky voice.

Ichigo glances around the room unaware of whose voice exactly that was. It was Masha. Ichigo smiles slightly. 'I guess I know what I have to do now. It isn't right to do this to Masaya. I kissed another boy, I was unfaithful. Maybe I just.' She pauses for a moment, believing that she's just in denial about her true feelings. 'No, I want a relation-'

Her thoughts were interrupted by the usually perky Masha. Except this time it didn't see that Masha was perky anymore. Instead Masha looked a bit uneasy, as if they could feel the pain that Ichigo was enduring.

"It's okay, Masha." She said as she smiled softly at her little perky robot. She reaches up to grab Masha and holds her tightly against her chest. 'Ryou gave me this... Oh Ryou, why did you have to kiss me now.'

She gets up and puts on of her feet on the rug and reaches to pull the plug. She walks up to the sink and draws a heart in the fog on the mirror. "I've got it."

"Got it! Got it!"

"That's right. I know what to do now, Masha!"

"Masha's good friend." She says with one of her most perkiest faces ever.

"Yes, Masha, and it's all thanks to you!"

The next day wasn't that beautiful. The sky was a dark gray with some touches of navy blue; it looked as if it was going to have a storm later on. The wind was blowing so hard, it looked like the trees could be pulled out of the ground at any time. Ichigo sighs. "I guess I can't blame the weather. I still have to do it no matter what."

She rushes out of the house, after saying goodbye to her parents. 'I have to hurry; I can't risk being late anymore.' She races past all the shops. "I've got to see Ryou today." She starts to think of the kiss from the other day and blushes. 'Too much excitement...' she states as she notices that her cat ears and tail popped out once again. The customers from the shop glance at the shadowed figure running incredibly faster than all of the average school children.

"Momma, that girl has a tail!"

She starts to panic. 'Oh no, someone saw.' She starts to concentrate thinking of nothing that could possibly excite her, maybe just the bad weather. She stops right in front of the little child who noticed her tail.

"Huh?" She asks.

"You have a tail! I saw it!" She smiles, looking so innocent. "But... Where did it go?"

"What a wild imagination you have! Heh heh heh..." Ichigo says as she messes up the little girl's hair. "I don't have a tail, now bye bye!" She begins to race to get to school on time once again.

Just a couple minutes before the bell rings, she finally makes it to her school. She quickly stops and leans against the wall gasping for air.

"Ichigo? Is that you?"

"Huh?" She questions, glancing around. She can't seem to find a single face though.

Masaya walks out of nowhere and smiles gently. "You're not late this time." He says, laughing.

He notices a disappointed look on Ichigo's face and asks her if there's anything bothering her. She glares up at him wondering how she could possibly do this to such an amazing man. He looks at her, more worried than ever now. "You know, you can talk to me about anything."

She sighs one more time. A long pause. "It's just... I really need t-" It had to be done. "I need to talk to you. It's important, so I'm really glad you met me here on such short notice." She smiled a little.

"It's no problem. What's on your mind?"

"I don't think I have the same emotions for you anymore. It's just, um, well I've go-" She couldn't believe that she was about to say something like that to him. She can't believe she was about to say something like that about... "I've got these mixed feelings." She quickly came up with another good reason for him. "I'm really sorry, Masaya."

"It's alright, Ichigo. I understand. I understand... completely." With that, he parted on his way.

**- Q -**

Ichigo slowly walks into Cafe Mew Mew, looking more gloomy than ever before. Ryou is on top of the stairs watching her. "You're late again, Baka Strawberry." He says with a small smirk on his face. "Get to work."

"I know. I had to do something. I'll go change now." She quickly runs to get changed. "I don't want to look at Ryou. I can't bare this right now. It hurts too much." Her face starts to turn red. She slowly walks out of the change room to join her friends.

In the middle of it all, she starts to get lose her attention to the customers. She keeps getting the orders mixed up and ignoring when they're trying to order. Keiichiro walked up behind her and puts his hand on her shoulder. "Are you sick? You can take a little break if you wish." She thanks him and accepts his offer.

After the cafe closed, the Mew Mews gathered in the change room to discuss Ichigo's condition. They're worried that something happened with Masaya. They're right. Their idea of what happened is all wrong though. Ichigo slumps on the chair and starts to think of where to go from here. 'Ryou... Could I possibly?' She starts to blush but quickly stops as she hears a noise.

"By the looks of it, it looks like it's about Masaya."

"Huh? Oh, Zakura. Everybody." She looks somewhat relieved, trying to hide her real emotions inside.

They all look at her funny with damaged looked on their face. "Did something happen?" Retasu asks. "You can tell us what happened." Ichigo looks up to see such a happy face on Retasu, as if everything will be okay soon.

"Oh. I broke up with him."

Everyone's expressions went from worried to shock in less than three seconds. Mint screamed "WHA" and asked her to explain what happened.

Ryou seemed to be a little worried about his Strawberry. "There I go again... My strawberry. That's not right." He sighs and goes to look for her. He wants to tell her to cheer up and stop making mistakes or else he'll take money off of her pay check. It seems to work often, at least in most cases.

Ichigo explained the situation of what was happened, excluding the vivacious kiss she had with Ryou. She doesn't think it would be right to include that. 'It probably meant nothing to him anyways; he has kissed me before when I was a cat.'

"Is there someone else?" one of them asks.

"What?" She starts to blush. She shakes her head quickly. "No way. I love Masaya. I do."

Zakura looks at her. She knows she's in denial about her feelings. For she feels the same way, just about someone completely different.

"I just had to end it with Masaya. There... Um, I just couldn't do it right now. I know it sounds silly but, I guess there is another person. It's just mixed up feelings but I'm having. They probably will mean nothing and I made him go through all this for nothing." She sighs with distress.

"Maybe it does mean something and you just haven't figured them out yet. Love is mysterious." says Zakura.

Mint adds "You're so lucky, more love advice from Zakura." She has huge starry eyes now, holding her hands together close to the side of her face.

Ryou starts to come along the entrance of the change room. 'I'm sure they are changed already...' But he got to hear something from the girls. He heard about the breaking up with Masaya. Though he did miss the part about another love interest. So he walked away.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll have to think things over again."

"Be patient, it will come." Zakura adds as she walks away.

All of the other four Mew Mews left as Ichigo finishes getting ready to leave. She sits around in the same position for over two hours or so, thinking of exactly what is suppose to be her next move. She had decided. Absolutely nothing would get in her way. She puts on her shoes and walks out of the room. Ryou is walking past the door and they happen to bump into each other. Thinking it was Keiichiro, she apologizes quickly, bowing her head to him.

Ryou smirks. "It's okay, Baka Strawberry."

She glances up to him and starts to blush. Her entire face is red now.

"What are you doing here? It's late."

She starts to mumble but she can't make out a word.

"I'd like a raise. And I would like it now!" She suggested to him. She didn't want to say anything about her feelings, though they were in need to tell him. She couldn't tell him now; he didn't feel the same way. She had concluded what she was going to do only earlier. She was ready to make it happen.

"What are you talking about? I told you you're never going to get a raise. You don't do enough." He smirked at the thought of getting her upset. This time, her cat ears and tail didn't pop out. It disappointed Ryou.

"You know I do all the work around here. I've already explained myself." She said, trying not to be so hot-headed. "Now give me that raise." She demanded once again.

"Are you sick?"

"What? What does that have to do with anything?"

He glared at her. His hand reached out and grabbed her face. He moved in closer to her, which made Ichigo gasp. 'What is he doing?' She closed her eyes, expecting the normal kiss from Ryou, but it never came.

"Baka Strawberry." He said once again, moving away from her. "You should go home."

"What about my raise?"

"Why are you still going on about that?"

"Because I deserve it!" She smiled at him. Her smile was wide, she looked so happy. He didn't understand why, he knew that she had broken up with Masaya earlier, she was in pieces.

"No, you don't."

"If you don't give me a raise, I quit."

"Oh, is that so? Alright, bye." And he walked away, snickering.

She growled at him. 'I can't believe that. I should have figured. He would never like someone like me.' She continued to think as she stomped out of the cafe. She stomped all the way home, scaring the birds from the trees. She didn't bother to tell her parents that she was home; she just went straight into her room and slept. 'I guess I can sleep in tomorrow morning now.' She thought to herself as she dozed off.

She woke up the next day feeling so fresh, she just couldn't wait for the day to start. She had remembered that she quit the other night, but couldn't help to go to the pink cafe. She enjoyed seeing her friends every day, and despite the fact that she really would never have admitted it to herself, nor to anyone else, she enjoyed seeing Ryou.

She decided that she would go there, just to order some food and watch the other girls worked, as Ryou got more upset that she wasn't doing anything. She didn't know him well, but she knew him enough to know he'd be upset with her for that. She had planned to even come in late, and wear something very attractive. One of her best outfits. Sadly, she couldn't decide what Ryou would like...

She floated over to her closet, opened it, laying her chin on her hand with one finger on her lip. It was as if she was in a very serious moment, though it was only decided what to wear. She had decided to wear one of her black skirts. She couldn't decide what to wear for her t-shirt. The choices were obvious. It was either her pink tank top with the frilled white trimming, her yellow sweater, or another t-shirt with a strawberry on the top right side. She had left on the bell that Masaya had gave her. She had become attached to it. She enjoyed how it rang every time she turned around quickly. Besides, it looked good on her.

Now the only thing left was to do her hair. She wasn't planning on keeping it down, so she grabbed the two red ribbons. She quickly tied up her hair in two pigtails, making sure that it was perfect. She looked in the mirror, thinking that Ryou would be sorry now.

She knew that she would be late enough; Ryou would surely be on her case by now, if she was there that is.

She started walking to the cafe. As soon as she was there, she popped her head inside and looked around. Everyone was doing their usual routine. It was just like a normal day at the cafe, excluding Ichigo's random daydreams. Ryou wasn't any where to be in sight though. She just walked in. "Girls, today..." She started.

"You're late, Baka!" The unpleasant voice again.

"As you could recall, with your high IQ, that I quit last night. Now I'd like a strawberry cupcake."

The other Mews looked at her. Mint didn't bother to put down her tea, and continued drinking. She called over to Ichigo. When Ichigo had arrived, Mint asked what happened.

Ryou was upset. He didn't take what she had said the other day seriously. Now his Strawberry had quit, he would hardly see her anymore. He couldn't bare that.

Before Ichigo could explain the situation to Mint, Ryou came up to her, grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her upstairs. He wouldn't lose his Strawberry. Not today. Not ever. He pulled her into his bedroom, leaning against the door, after closing it. "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean? I quit. I want a cupcake now." She smiled at him. This was exactly what she thought would happened, well somewhat.

"You quit because I didn't give you a raise?"

"Yep."

"I don't believe you." She was sitting on his bed now, feeling comfortable. "You're giving up on the people you've been destined to save?"

"No."

"What?"

"I'll be Mew Ichigo when the people need me."

Ryou just had this "..." look on his face. He didn't understand what she was trying to get at.

"I'd just like a raise."

"I told you no. You're not going to get a raise, Baka." He had a smirk on his face. He thought that she was only doing this for a raise, which she'll be back in no time afterwards.

"Well then-"

"Actually," He pauses for a moment, looking as if he's really serious about giving her one. "Sure."

Ichigo was shocked. She couldn't believe what he had said. "Did you... Did you say yes?"

"Yes. Yes, I did." He said with another big smirk on his face. He wasn't really going to give her a raise though.

"Great!" She exclaimed.

"Now get to work, baka."

"What? No, I'm taking the day off. Where's my cupcake?" She insisted.

Ryou growled. He came up closer to her, pulling her wrist. "Oh, you'll get your cupcake, baka." He pulled her downstairs, pulled out a chair for her, making her sit down. He went into the kitchen.

"Keiichiro... I need a cupcake."

"What for?" His curiosity spoke.

"Baka Strawberry won't get to work until she gets one..." He sighed.

Keiichiro hands over a cupcake to him. He knows what Ryou is thinking of. "Here you go."

Ichigo was explaining why she quit and how she'll be working the next day now that she had finally gotten a raise when Ryou walked back into the room. She didn't mention anything about the kiss, or her new-found feelings for Ryou. She didn't want him to overhear. "Here you go. Now get to work."

"I told you I'm not working today. But thanks." She said with a cheery face. She glanced over at him, only to see how much anger was in his face. She thought it was the perfect time...

**End | Chapter 2**

What's this; it's the perfect time for what? Ichigo, oh, Ichigo, let me know. I'll have to write Chapter 3 next. Har har, no time for sleep.


	3. Watson's Conclusion

I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew. If I did, like I said before, Ichigo would be in Ryou's arms right now and I wouldn't have to bother with my "break up with Masaya" scenes. Thanks. I got to write this chapter while I watched my sister cry over the fact that the internet wasn't working. It was amusing to write it. Here's chapter three now.

(Written on August 13, 2006)  
**Chapter 3 | Watson's Conclusion**

Yep. It was the perfect time. She wasn't intending on working that day, nor would she accept a no for an answer. It was now or never, as lame as that expression may sound. The only problem was that she hadn't thought of a cover story. She needed to have a verified answer for him, and for the other Mews that were ease-dropping. She stared into his frustrated aqua eyes, going deeper than she's ever been. She had thought of a good enough reason... At least for now.

"So, Ryou," she started. "Would you do me a favour?"

Ryou's eyes perked up with curiosity. He wondered what his Baka Strawberry could ask from him now. Another raise? No. Another... Dare he even suggest it, cupcake? He gave up guessing, he had gotten nowhere with that. "What is it, Baka Strawberry?"

She glanced around; all of the other Mews were interested in what she had to say. Mint still kept drinking her tea, watching Ichigo. Purin stopped doing her tricks for the customers, while Retasu glared openly with huge eyes. Meanwhile Zakura just waited to see if she would finally make a move. All eyes were on Ichigo.

Ichigo blushed. "Could you, um, go shopping with me?" She asks quietly, starting to explain herself. "I have to buy a gift for a friend... I just don't know what to get him."

She looked back at the other girls, who finally went back to their usual routine. "Besides, we... We can bond!" The last word from her mouth came out unusually loud, as if she shrieked it, making Mint, Purin and Retasu fall to the floor with huge sweat drops. She really never meant to say that.

"Are you asking me out?" Ryou placed a big grin on his face.

"No." She looked down, trying to hide her red cheeks. "I just need a guy's opinion, that's all..." Did he not want to spend any time with her at all? "It isn't like you're going to work." She mumbled the last phrase in a lower tone.

"I always work. You, on the other hand, you never work." With that, he walked away. He was heading to his bedroom, obviously.

She rushed after him. No was not an answer. He walked straight into his bedroom. He quickly closed the door. She opened it. Of course, she wasn't going to knock, sure as he wouldn't be in any of that shirt-less positions. The truth was, Ryou was standing there still, not really amazed that she had followed him, but waiting for her to say something.

"Come on, you have to help me!"

"I'm too busy."

"No, you're not."

But he just couldn't resist saying yes to her. He was curious. Turning around, he walked right up to her. His hand was reached out, holding the bottom of her face. "Well, then, Baka Strawberry, I'm getting rid of that raise you asked for. And you're going to have to work tomorrow." A short pause. He added. "Late."

Ichigo giggled to herself. She couldn't believe the words that just came out of his lips; she ignored the fact that she couldn't get a raise. She would try that again another day. But he accepted. 'So what if the reason is a little off?' He had said yes, and nothing was going to stop her. "What?" She questioned about the raise, but did not actually care for it. "Fine." She had accepted his offer.

Ryou frowned with confusion. His Strawberry was actually willing to give up her raise in order to spend a day with him. He grabbed her hand, blushing a bit, trying to rid his mind of those thoughts, telling her that they have to go.

She was being dragged the entire way to the shopping district before she could manage to say something about it. She figured that he didn't want to be there. That she was just wasting her time. But that wouldn't stop her. As he let go of her wrist, she started to blush. He was staring at her. He was expecting something. Could it be that he truly felt the same way about her. Did he want her to express her feelings to him? Was he dying to hear those words? A simple "I love you" couldn't express how she felt right now.

"Well?" He said, waiting.

Her face was painted bright red. Jumping up, she quickly replied. "Huh?"

"What exactly are you looking for, Baka Strawberry?" He inquired.

"O-o-oh, right." She had completely forgotten about her excuse. She just wanted to spend some time alone with Ryou, just so he'd eventually gain some feelings for her. Silly Ichigo. "Well, I'm not sure what he likes." She started. "He's kind of mysterious."

"How am I supposed to help you then?" He scuffed.

Ichigo didn't know how he was supposed to help her though. Her reason wasn't all that great, but it worked enough to get him this far. She quickly made up the best excuse she could think of, trying not to sound like an idiot to him. "Couldn't we just walk around? You can tell me what you think of certain things..." She suggested.

He said that he'll do it. He wanted to. He really was curious about this other guy. It seemed she had gotten over Masaya really quickly. Too quick for someone like her. He had always been perfect. An animal lover. A nature lover and saver. The Blue Knight, and despite his other persona as Deep Blue. He was still perfect. Ryou never thought he was perfect though.

They started to walk around. They passed a shop which Ichigo had seen before. She had been standing there in front of it with Masaya once upon a time. Now it was Ryou's turn. Ichigo squealed to herself. She couldn't believe how beautiful it was. More than the one that she had saw with Masaya. It was another wedding dress. It was a long, bright white, wedding dress. It was strapless, with the torso curving around every inch of the manikin's breasts. It had a very light pink sewing that outlined the top of the dress, with little flowers. Ichigo was giggling now, as if she had came up with an evil plan.

"Ichigo! My love, I have always loved you. I always will. Ever since I infused you with wild cat DNA, I knew you were the one for me." Ryou stated to her, getting down on one knee, smiling ever so graceful.

"Oh, Ryou." Yes, it was one of those typical cliché moments. She smiled, blushing, and glancing away as if she didn't want anyone to see how red her face really was. Her dream had come true.

"Ichigo." He started. "Would you please..." He began. Ichigo was filled with anticipation. "Would you please do me the honour of being my wife. I can't stand to be another moment without you." He pulled out a small, soft black, velvet jewellery box, opening before her eyes. It was beautiful.

She said yes to him. After placing the ring on her finger, he kissed her passionately. Wedding bells rang. She was wearing that dress that she was looking at not even three minutes ago while he wore his white tuxedo. They looked so happy together.

In all this, Ryou had kept walking alone, asking questions about this mystery man and his interests, not noticing that Ichigo had stopped in front of the bridal shop. He looked like he was talking to himself. A little crazy. He looked over to where Ichigo was supposed to be. Now he was looking all over for her. "What is she doing?"

He slowly walked over to her, not trying to ruin her daydream just yet. He stood right beside her, played his usual routine. He flicked her face. "Baka Strawberry." She didn't reply. She just giggled like a maniac. "Baka Strawberry!" He shouted at her. He grabbed her shoulders, shaking her out of her fantasy. "Baka!"

Reality came back to her, hard and cold. She hadn't even said "huh?" a minute before she fell down, grazing her knee. Ryou just looked at her, with the same expression he had always looked at her with. There weren't any obvious emotions in his eyes. It was blank. "Strawberry..."

Several minutes past by since he said something. She was still staring into his eyes. "Do you plan on sitting there all day?"

She realized that she hadn't gotten up. She must look like an idiot to him. "Well get up, Baka." Those demanding words made her finally get up. No apology, whatsoever, came from her mouth. The word 'oh' was the only thing she said. She put on a small smile.

There was a short silence as they walked among the crowds. It was time to end it. "So what kinds of things to do you like, Ryou?" Was she ready to call him by his first name. No. "Sh-Shirogane, sorry."

"I don't like things." He snickered.

They walked into a little ornament store. Something had caught the little cat girl's brown eyes. She pranced right over to it. He just stood there by the door, with his hands in his pocket, watching her. Slowly walking up to her, he looked at what she was glaring at. It was small. But it wasn't a wonder how she could like it. It was a little black cat sitting on a big red strawberry. It was made of glass. 'If she had this, she'd end up breaking it...' He scuffed out some air.

"It's so cute!" She shrieked.

"Aren't we shopping for your friend?"

"Right!" She had walked away. Ryou glanced back at it, revealing a price for the item.

Nothing in the store was good enough for her 'friend', so they just left. She began with the questions again.

"So do you like any colors?" She didn't really think he'd answer her, so she began asking another. "Do you-"

"I like..." Those words interrupted her own. She looked at him. She was wondering if he would finish. He smirked a little. "Red."

"That's it?" And it was. It really wasn't the answer she thought she'd hear. When she thought about it, she guessed it could be true. He had only worn one item.

"Yeah." He smirked at her. They kept on walking, but it wasn't long for her to ask another question.

"Now..." She began to speak. She didn't know if it was the right time, but she'd say it anyways. "What kind of girls do you like?" She had said it with a big grin on her face.

The question had shocked Ryou. 'Why would she want to know that... Maybe.. Lettuce?' He had been fully aware of Retasu's feelings towards him. He just did not decline her.

"I bet you like those snobby, sophisticated, rich girls. Probably blonde or a brunette." She had begun to summarize someone who he didn't actually have any interest in. "Probably drinks a lot of tea, like Mint." She just had to add that. "Maybe she plays tennis too.. No, wait, golf!"

"You baka. Where do you get your information?"

"What? I'm just guessing." She had frowned. "If you don't like that kind of girls, then what kinds do you?"

He blushed a little. "I don't..."

"Oh. You like boys!" She had shouted, growing a little angry.

"No, Watson, I like girls. I just don't have time for them right now. With the Mew Project and all." He was lying between his teeth. He had time for girls.

A simple 'oh' was her response. He looked at the time. It was getting late. The store would be closing very soon. They had looked at several stores, finding nothing that would interest her 'friend'. They drifted from the shopping district to the park where Ichigo visits frequently... For a reason we'd best not to mention. They had strolled around the park until they got to a bench. Ichigo, expressing that she was tired from the walking, sat down. Ryou sat down next to her. Probably farther than what you would hope for.

"Who's your friend, Baka?"

"Oh.. " She didn't know what to say. "It's Keiichiro!"

Ryou was shocked. Why on earth would Ichigo want to get something for Keiichiro, unless she.. "What?"

**Chapter 3 : End**

What's this? Unexpected, undeveloped feelings for Keiichiro? Poor Ryou.

I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew. If I did, like I said before, Ichigo would be in Ryou's arms right now and I wouldn't have to bother with my "break up with Masaya" scenes. Thanks. I got to write this chapter while I watched my sister cry over the fact that the internet wasn't working. It was amusing to write it. Here's chapter three now.

(Written on August 13, 2006)  
**Chapter 3 | Watson's Conclusion**

Yep. It was the perfect time. She wasn't intending on working that day, nor would she accept a no for an answer. It was now or never, as lame as that expression may sound. The only problem was that she hadn't thought of a cover story. She needed to have a verified answer for him, and for the other Mews that were ease-dropping. She stared into his frustrated aqua eyes, going deeper than she's ever been. She had thought of a good enough reason... At least for now.

"So, Ryou," she started. "Would you do me a favour?"

Ryou's eyes perked up with curiosity. He wondered what his Baka Strawberry could ask from him now. Another raise? No. Another... Dare he even suggest it, cupcake? He gave up guessing, he had gotten nowhere with that. "What is it, Baka Strawberry?"

She glanced around; all of the other Mews were interested in what she had to say. Mint still kept drinking her tea, watching Ichigo. Purin stopped doing her tricks for the customers, while Retasu glared openly with huge eyes. Meanwhile Zakura just waited to see if she would finally make a move. All eyes were on Ichigo.

Ichigo blushed. "Could you, um, go shopping with me?" She asks quietly, starting to explain herself. "I have to buy a gift for a friend... I just don't know what to get him."

She looked back at the other girls, who finally went back to their usual routine. "Besides, we... We can bond!" The last word from her mouth came out unusually loud, as if she shrieked it, making Mint, Purin and Retasu fall to the floor with huge sweat drops. She really never meant to say that.

"Are you asking me out?" Ryou placed a big grin on his face.

"No." She looked down, trying to hide her red cheeks. "I just need a guy's opinion, that's all..." Did he not want to spend any time with her at all? "It isn't like you're going to work." She mumbled the last phrase in a lower tone.

"I always work. You, on the other hand, you never work." With that, he walked away. He was heading to his bedroom, obviously.

She rushed after him. No was not an answer. He walked straight into his bedroom. He quickly closed the door. She opened it. Of course, she wasn't going to knock, sure as he wouldn't be in any of that shirt-less positions. The truth was, Ryou was standing there still, not really amazed that she had followed him, but waiting for her to say something.

"Come on, you have to help me!"

"I'm too busy."

"No, you're not."

But he just couldn't resist saying yes to her. He was curious. Turning around, he walked right up to her. His hand was reached out, holding the bottom of her face. "Well, then, Baka Strawberry, I'm getting rid of that raise you asked for. And you're going to have to work tomorrow." A short pause. He added. "Late."

Ichigo giggled to herself. She couldn't believe the words that just came out of his lips; she ignored the fact that she couldn't get a raise. She would try that again another day. But he accepted. 'So what if the reason is a little off?' He had said yes, and nothing was going to stop her. "What?" She questioned about the raise, but did not actually care for it. "Fine." She had accepted his offer.

Ryou frowned with confusion. His Strawberry was actually willing to give up her raise in order to spend a day with him. He grabbed her hand, blushing a bit, trying to rid his mind of those thoughts, telling her that they have to go.

She was being dragged the entire way to the shopping district before she could manage to say something about it. She figured that he didn't want to be there. That she was just wasting her time. But that wouldn't stop her. As he let go of her wrist, she started to blush. He was staring at her. He was expecting something. Could it be that he truly felt the same way about her. Did he want her to express her feelings to him? Was he dying to hear those words? A simple "I love you" couldn't express how she felt right now.

"Well?" He said, waiting.

Her face was painted bright red. Jumping up, she quickly replied. "Huh?"

"What exactly are you looking for, Baka Strawberry?" He inquired.

"O-o-oh, right." She had completely forgotten about her excuse. She just wanted to spend some time alone with Ryou, just so he'd eventually gain some feelings for her. Silly Ichigo. "Well, I'm not sure what he likes." She started. "He's kind of mysterious."

"How am I supposed to help you then?" He scuffed.

Ichigo didn't know how he was supposed to help her though. Her reason wasn't all that great, but it worked enough to get him this far. She quickly made up the best excuse she could think of, trying not to sound like an idiot to him. "Couldn't we just walk around? You can tell me what you think of certain things..." She suggested.

He said that he'll do it. He wanted to. He really was curious about this other guy. It seemed she had gotten over Masaya really quickly. Too quick for someone like her. He had always been perfect. An animal lover. A nature lover and saver. The Blue Knight, and despite his other persona as Deep Blue. He was still perfect. Ryou never thought he was perfect though.

They started to walk around. They passed a shop which Ichigo had seen before. She had been standing there in front of it with Masaya once upon a time. Now it was Ryou's turn. Ichigo squealed to herself. She couldn't believe how beautiful it was. More than the one that she had saw with Masaya. It was another wedding dress. It was a long, bright white, wedding dress. It was strapless, with the torso curving around every inch of the manikin's breasts. It had a very light pink sewing that outlined the top of the dress, with little flowers. Ichigo was giggling now, as if she had came up with an evil plan.

"Ichigo! My love, I have always loved you. I always will. Ever since I infused you with wild cat DNA, I knew you were the one for me." Ryou stated to her, getting down on one knee, smiling ever so graceful.

"Oh, Ryou." Yes, it was one of those typical cliché moments. She smiled, blushing, and glancing away as if she didn't want anyone to see how red her face really was. Her dream had come true.

"Ichigo." He started. "Would you please..." He began. Ichigo was filled with anticipation. "Would you please do me the honour of being my wife. I can't stand to be another moment without you." He pulled out a small, soft black, velvet jewellery box, opening before her eyes. It was beautiful.

She said yes to him. After placing the ring on her finger, he kissed her passionately. Wedding bells rang. She was wearing that dress that she was looking at not even three minutes ago while he wore his white tuxedo. They looked so happy together.

In all this, Ryou had kept walking alone, asking questions about this mystery man and his interests, not noticing that Ichigo had stopped in front of the bridal shop. He looked like he was talking to himself. A little crazy. He looked over to where Ichigo was supposed to be. Now he was looking all over for her. "What is she doing?"

He slowly walked over to her, not trying to ruin her daydream just yet. He stood right beside her, played his usual routine. He flicked her face. "Baka Strawberry." She didn't reply. She just giggled like a maniac. "Baka Strawberry!" He shouted at her. He grabbed her shoulders, shaking her out of her fantasy. "Baka!"

Reality came back to her, hard and cold. She hadn't even said "huh?" a minute before she fell down, grazing her knee. Ryou just looked at her, with the same expression he had always looked at her with. There weren't any obvious emotions in his eyes. It was blank. "Strawberry..."

Several minutes past by since he said something. She was still staring into his eyes. "Do you plan on sitting there all day?"

She realized that she hadn't gotten up. She must look like an idiot to him. "Well get up, Baka." Those demanding words made her finally get up. No apology, whatsoever, came from her mouth. The word 'oh' was the only thing she said. She put on a small smile.

There was a short silence as they walked among the crowds. It was time to end it. "So what kinds of things to do you like, Ryou?" Was she ready to call him by his first name. No. "Sh-Shirogane, sorry."

"I don't like things." He snickered.

They walked into a little ornament store. Something had caught the little cat girl's brown eyes. She pranced right over to it. He just stood there by the door, with his hands in his pocket, watching her. Slowly walking up to her, he looked at what she was glaring at. It was small. But it wasn't a wonder how she could like it. It was a little black cat sitting on a big red strawberry. It was made of glass. 'If she had this, she'd end up breaking it...' He scuffed out some air.

"It's so cute!" She shrieked.

"Aren't we shopping for your friend?"

"Right!" She had walked away. Ryou glanced back at it, revealing a price for the item.

Nothing in the store was good enough for her 'friend', so they just left. She began with the questions again.

"So do you like any colors?" She didn't really think he'd answer her, so she began asking another. "Do you-"

"I like..." Those words interrupted her own. She looked at him. She was wondering if he would finish. He smirked a little. "Red."

"That's it?" And it was. It really wasn't the answer she thought she'd hear. When she thought about it, she guessed it could be true. He had only worn one item.

"Yeah." He smirked at her. They kept on walking, but it wasn't long for her to ask another question.

"Now..." She began to speak. She didn't know if it was the right time, but she'd say it anyways. "What kind of girls do you like?" She had said it with a big grin on her face.

The question had shocked Ryou. 'Why would she want to know that... Maybe.. Lettuce?' He had been fully aware of Retasu's feelings towards him. He just did not decline her.

"I bet you like those snobby, sophisticated, rich girls. Probably blonde or a brunette." She had begun to summarize someone who he didn't actually have any interest in. "Probably drinks a lot of tea, like Mint." She just had to add that. "Maybe she plays tennis too.. No, wait, golf!"

"You baka. Where do you get your information?"

"What? I'm just guessing." She had frowned. "If you don't like that kind of girls, then what kinds do you?"

He blushed a little. "I don't..."

"Oh. You like boys!" She had shouted, growing a little angry.

"No, Watson, I like girls. I just don't have time for them right now. With the Mew Project and all." He was lying between his teeth. He had time for girls.

A simple 'oh' was her response. He looked at the time. It was getting late. The store would be closing very soon. They had looked at several stores, finding nothing that would interest her 'friend'. They drifted from the shopping district to the park where Ichigo visits frequently... For a reason we'd best not to mention. They had strolled around the park until they got to a bench. Ichigo, expressing that she was tired from the walking, sat down. Ryou sat down next to her. Probably farther than what you would hope for.

"Who's your friend, Baka?"

"Oh.. " She didn't know what to say. "It's Keiichiro!"

Ryou was shocked. Why on earth would Ichigo want to get something for Keiichiro, unless she.. "What?"

**End | Chapter 3**

What's this? Unexpected, undeveloped feelings for Keiichiro? Poor Ryou.


	4. An Unanswered Question

I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew, just like all of the other times I reminded you. And I'll let you know this again because I love my little fantasy. If I did, Ichigo would be with Ryou right now and Masaya.. Well he'd be completely defeated. I got to write part of this chapter the other day, after I finished the other. Good thing that I don't sleep. Here's chapter 4.

(Written on August 14 2006 )  
**Chapter 4 | An Unanswered Question**

The word 'what' was the last thing that came from Ryou's lips. His heart was not torn out. She did not feel any emotion towards his best friend, Keiichiro. It was just a simple gesture of kindness to repay his.

"I just want to thank him for everything he has done."

They had talked about simple things that she could do for Keiichiro. He didn't need much to put a smile on his ace, nor to feel welcomed, thanked, or anything to do with kindness. Maybe they could secretly set him up with Zakura. We know a couple bodies that wouldn't mind. Ryou glanced at the time again. It had gotten late. 'Shouldn't Ichigo be going home now?'

"Shouldn't you be getting back now? It's getting late, Strawberry."

She wanted to say no, but she knew she had to say yes. Right before she could say it, something made a sound. It growled fierceness. It was in need. It was hungry? Her stomach growled. She laughed, trying to ignore it, but it didn't help the fact that Ryou had heard it.

"You baka, you're hungry. We'll go to the cafe and get a bite to eat."

Ichigo nodded in agreement. A plan, that she had not been aware of, had worked.

They were walking back to the cafe. It was a complete silence, except for the occasional growl of Ichigo's stomach. She decided to break the silence.

"So uh-"

"Strawber-"

They had both interrupted each other. She laughed about it. Ryou only looked away. How he loved her smile. He insisted that she should say what she was going to say first. He didn't feel the need to say ask question anymore.

"Oh. So if you're not into the sophisticated type, what kind of girls are you into?" It was that question again.

Ryou didn't really want to answer. He didn't want to say 'redheads, klutzy, and a bit slow'. That would be the perfect way to describe it. "Why do you want to know, Baka?"

"No reason. Just curious." Her answer didn't fill his curiosity, but he let it go. As always. "So what were you going to say?"

"It's nothing."

"But I want to know."

"Drop it." He had a smirk on his face. He couldn't resist. It was like tempting a little kitten with a piece of yarn.

They had talked about nothing in particular for half an hour. It was nice. Of course there were some smirks, mentioning how one of them is a baka, and of course, temptation. Many times they both had wanted to express to each other how they felt. Ryou couldn't. And well, Ichigo thought he had no interest.

They finally reached the cafe. Keiichiro was nowhere to be insight. They walked straight into the kitchen. Ichigo was heading to sit down at the table in the center; meanwhile Ryou went straight to the fridge to see what they had. There was a piece of cake there. It looked marvellous, as did all of the cakes that Keiichiro had prepared. He takes it from the fridge, heads to the drawer, grabbing a fork. He lays it down in front of Ichigo.

"You're not hungry?" She asks.

"No."

She takes a bite of her cake. He's watching her now. Every single bite she takes. She finished it slowly, managing to waste some time. She really doesn't want to go home yet. She thanks him for the little dessert, putting her dishes in the sink. He heads upstairs. She follows. She sat on his bed while he sat on a chair.

"So what did you want to tell me?"

"I told you, Baka, it's nothing."

"But I want to know."

She could go on forever. He eventually caved in though, surprisingly. He really wanted to know why. "..Baka Strawberry?"

"Yes." She knew he was going to ask him something. Another expression of love?

"Why did you break up with Masaya? I thought he was... Perfect."

She looks at him funny, then glances down, feeling a little guilty. She knew that she had broke up with him in hopes of getting somewhere with Ryou. Not to mention she was unloyal to him several times, not always by her fault though. The idea of liking someone else was unloyal to her. But could she tell him that to him? "Well..." No. "I just... I don't like him anymore."

Her answer was simple. It was what Ryou wanted to hear. At least that much, more of an explanation would be nice. He wanted to ask why not, but he couldn't.

"I was feeling guilty, I guess."

He didn't understand. "Guilty?"

She didn't want to say anymore. She couldn't express her feelings towards him right now. She didn't say anything. She was looking down, playing with her two index fingers, as she did on such occasions. He understood that much.

"I'll... I'll take you home now. Let's go, Strawberry."

She grabbed out for his arm, pulling on it, tightly. "I don't want .. To be alone right now."

The expression on her face told him that she was serious. "You can stay here tonight..." He grabbed the phone, handing it to her, and then said. "Call your mom. Tell her you're staying at a friend's."

She did as she was told. She told her mom that she'll stay at Mint's house for the night, and head to work first thing in the morning. Her mom said alright, that she'll see her tomorrow after work. Her mom was cheery as usual. She laid her head down on his bed. He sat right beside her.

A silence.

He went to his dresser, pulling out a baggy white t-shirt and red shorts. So he has more than one red item. He offers them to Ichigo, saying that she might be uncomfortable in the clothes she's wearing. She gladly accepts them. Straight into the bathroom.

She came back out. 'She still looks great.' Ryou points out to himself. The shorts are hanging a little below her kneecaps. The baggy white shirt is still, nonetheless, baggy but still managing to curve around every inch of her upper torso. Her red hair was dangling down, a little messy. A bell rang. She's blushing now.

Another silence.

She was laying there thinking of all the good possibilities that could occur because of this. And he was just wondering what was on her mind. He gazed upon her body, watching her smile at every random thought that passed through her mind. He couldn't help himself this time. He reached over her. He grabbed her face and pulled himself closer to her. He could feel her heart beat. Was she excited?

Her cat ears popped out. He couldn't see if her tail was there. He smirked. He loved seeing her get excited. He loved the cat aspect about her just as he loved her herself.

He kissed her. She wasn't pulling back, as she did all of the other occasions. He wondered. A pink puff of smoke had appeared before his eyes. He didn't expect anything else. He snickered, leaving her as a cat.

She demanded to be turned back as a human again. He declined. 'Didn't really feel like it' was his excuse. But when she least expected it, during her wonderful speech, he picked her up and kissed her again. She was human. The room was silent. You could hear her beating heart. She was still excited. Her ears and tail wouldn't leave.

"Are you... Happy to see me?" He snickered some more. All she did was blush.

She laid her head on his pillow, facing the wall, she couldn't stop blushing. Due to the fact that she was surely tired, she quickly fell asleep. And so did him. Right beside her.

He had waked up the next morning. Early as usual. He knew something was different about today though. He was facing Ichigo's back. His arms were wrapped around her waist securely, not letting go once in the middle of the night. He blushed a little. She was sleeping so peacefully. He gets up, quietly, trying his best not to wake her.

She turned around, still sleeping, and moaned something in her sleep. "..Ry-Ryou." She was dreaming of him. He couldn't believe it. "You- You Baka!" She had moaned again. He didn't expect this to be a good dream. The truth was it was. He smiled at her. He placed the covers back on her, and then kissed her forehead.

He walks into his bathroom to take a shower. He kept thinking about what he was doing during the night. Did she know that his arms were there? Did she try to stop him? What was she dreaming of? These thoughts filled his mind. Before he knew it, he was finished with the shower. He changed in the bathroom, and headed straight to his bedroom. She was still sleeping.

He sat on the chair, watching her. He hoped she'd say something more. Lucky him, she did.

She tossed and turned for a couple of seconds. Turned back to face him, and groaned in her sleep. "Ryo-" She had squinted her face now. Letting go, she said another word. "I..." But she wouldn't finish her sentence.

'I hate you... I loathe you... I... I love you?' He had thought to himself. Impossible. 'Ichigo hates me. She reminds me every day...'

She had moaned more words. "Strawberry- please." She growled in her sleep. She even hissed. She was the true wild cat. "Just-" A pause. "Can't we?" Another pause. She had blinked. Her eyes were opening. It was opening to an amused Ryou. He had a big smile on his face, as if he just watched something funny. He sort of did though.

"Ryou?" She was still partly asleep. "What time is it?"

"It's early."

She closed her eyes for a minute. She fell asleep almost instantly. Ryou hoped that she would go back into the dream, saying more things, which would be clues to him. It was like a puzzle. He wanted to know what kind of dream she was having. Especially one that involved him. She wouldn't say anyone word though.

She just tossed and turned some more. She groaned at the bed, she hissed at the pillow, and apparently reached out to touch someone. He grabbed her hand. Held it tight. He didn't want to let go.

Ichigo scratched her face. He knew it was time to let go of her hand. Without opening her eyes, she yelled out that she's late for work again. "Ryou is going to kill me." She shouted at herself. She quickly sat up, facing him. She stared at Ryou right in the eyes. "Shirogane!"

"Well then, I guess I know why you're always late, Baka Strawberry." He smirked.

He's sitting on the bed, right beside her.

"You're not late. It's early." He paused for a moment. It looked like there was something on her mind. "If you'd like... you can shower with me."

**End | Chapter 4**

Oh Ryou, you shouldn't have... Hehehe. Now you should really give a review for me.


	5. A Secret Admirer

Sheesh, I know it's been a while. I've been lacking creativity lately. Don't know why though... Mainly busy with my... Umm. Here's chapter five. I know you've been longing to read what happens next. I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew. I do not own any relationships in Tokyo Mew Mew. If I did, the bad guy would be the bad guy and be defeated.

(Written on August 23 2006)  
**Chapter 5 | A Secret Admirer**

Did she hear what she thought she heard? It can't be. Ichigo couldn't believe her ears. There was no way. But did he really offer to take a shower with her? She could tell that he already took a shower. His hair was still a little damped. Her mind was in a constant state of hesitation.

"W- Why- What did you just say?"

Ryou had slipped up. As unbelievable as that may be. He had offered the shower exactly the way she heard. But he had to deny it. What would she think of him if he really did say that? Somewhat perverted? He wasn't like that.

"I said you can take a shower." He turned the other way. "Baka." A short pause. "What did you think I said?" He just had to smirk at that question.

She held back her blush. 'So he didn't offer me... I could have sworn I heard him exactly.' She never did tell him what exactly she heard. She didn't want him to know that. It was the 'right' time for that. She denied the shower. Said it would be okay, that she'll just change and get ready for work.

Ryou slowly walked up to her. He wasn't about to flick her face. He was uncertain about her reply. He reached for her face, holding it, asking whether she was sure or not. His face was close to hers now. She could feel her heart beat against her chest.

Sadly, at that exact moment, Keiichiro walked into his bedroom. He stopped, starring at the two. He blushed slightly. "Oh my. I'm sorry."

The two glanced over at him. They didn't seem to notice him until he said something. Ryou quickly backed away from Ichigo, pretending as if nothing had happened in the first place. It would be just another misunderstanding for Keiichiro. Though he always did know the truth.

"I didn't know Ichigo was here." He started. "I'm terribly sorry." Another apology.

"It's nothing. What did you want?"

"I'm just letting you know I'll be opening the shop soon."

"Alright."

With that, Keiichiro parted after giving a smile to Ichigo. All she did was blush. She was speechless the entire time that Keiichiro was there. She looked back at Ryou. He was just standing there. It really was like nothing had happened. She did spend the night with him. She did have that dream. Even thought he did deny it, he did slip up anyways.

She just stood there for a while. She couldn't move. He flicked her forehead, saying something about work. She couldn't hear straight anymore. She just nodded, pretending to understand.

"Okay, go change."

Even though she was still in the clothing that Ryou gave her last night, she went to the changing rooms to change. The other girls wouldn't be here yet, so she wouldn't have to worry about them seeing her... in such clothing. They wouldn't question anything about the other day.

Ryou was still in his bedroom. He was just a little angry at himself for slipping up like that. He never intended to imply such a thing. He gave it up though. He decided to walk downstairs to consult something with Keiichiro.

"You know... That baka dreamt of me." He said with pride.

Keiichiro only replied with a simple oh.

"Yeah. She called me a baka..." Honestly, that wasn't what Keiichiro expected to hear. "She said some other things to. She didn't make any sense though... Then again, that baka doesn't ever make sense to me." He stopped for a moment, gathering his thoughts, trying to hide his emotions. "You know she actually hissed in her sleep."

Keiichiro just smiled. "So what was that five minutes ago?"

"That was nothing." He began to blush. To him, it could have been a chance to tell her how he felt. To kiss her again. To hold her close.

"She slept over?"

"Yeah. I fell asleep beside her." Keiichiro just looked at him as if he was thinking of something else. He knew Ryou very well. He already knew about the feelings towards Ichigo, but now... Are they sleeping together? Ryou wasn't like that. But all Keiichiro did was smile.

Ryou just walked away into the main room. He sat down on a chair. With his legs high up, pressing against the table, he leaned over in his chair. It seemed waiting for the girls took forever. For the first time, Ichigo was not going to be late.

When Mint and Retasu walked in, they were surprised to see that it was Ichigo. She was the first to treat them. It was a little suspicious to Mint. Of course, it means she would have to question this later. They greeted her, and then went straight to change. Purin was the next to come in. "ICHIGO!" She shouted as she hugged her. Zakura would be the only Mew that wasn't going to come in today. She was busy with a photo shoot.

"So why are you here so early?"

"Huh? I was up in time."

"Do you have something planned?"

"Not really?" Ichigo is confused about where Mint is getting at. She knows there's something going on with Ichigo. She just needs her to confess.

Ryou was still in the kitchen talking to Keiichiro. Mostly about the Mew Mew Project. What else would they discuss...? Feelings. Not today. He told Keiichiro that he had something important to do today. Ryou would be leaving early, and coming back around the end of their shifts. He didn't say why, it was just an important matter he had to attend to. He left the kitchen.

"So who's the mystery man?" She smiled at her.

Ichigo looked around the room, finding herself staring at Ryou. Her face turned red.

"Must be serious..."

Ichigo had a confused look on her face. How does she know? "What?"

"Your ears and tail have popped out. Better get rid of those..." She pointed at them. "Before the customers come. Not to mention, your face is red."

Ichigo just screamed. She tried to hide her ears from everyone. Ryou walked over past them, towards the entrance. He stopped in front of Ichigo and Mint. "Your face is red..."

"No, it isn't!" She screamed as she ran into the kitchen. Surely not a single body was in there, except for Keiichiro.

He was smiling as usual. She was afraid he would ask about what was going on earlier. Maybe mention something about the overnight stay... In Ryou's bedroom. Keiichiro didn't say anything though. He just greeted her and asked how she was doing.

Keiichiro finally opened the little pink cafe. Everything was a success. Ichigo randomly wondered where Ryou was. She decided it would be best to check his bedroom. He's usually there. She walked upstairs heading straight for his bedroom.

She didn't bother to knock on his door. She wouldn't then and she wasn't planning on doing it now. She opened it. The room was dark. She didn't think he was in there, but she just had to make sure. She whispered Ryou. Not a sound. She whispered his name again. Still no sound. She waved her hand against the wall, searching for the light switch. She finally found it.

An empty room. As she was about to turn off the lights, she noticed something full of colors on his desk. It really wasn't like him to have something colourful. She went up closer to it. A picture. Even closer. It was... It was the Mew Mews? Ichigo noted on how the Mew Mew Project means a lot to him. After all, his father did start it.

She smiled as she turned off the lights.

A couple hours passed by since then. Ryou finally came in. No one saw except for Keiichiro. He came in the back door holding a bag. He told Keiichiro not to say anything about his arrival. Keiichiro nodded. Ryou went straight upstairs.

Another couple hours had passed by since Ryou returned. The girls still didn't know that he was back yet. Ichigo was surprised that he stayed out all night by himself. She wondered what he could be doing. It was the end of her shift. She had worked late, due to the fact that Ryou demanded it the other day. The other girls went home. She stayed back just to clean up the place. When she was finally done, there was still no sign of Ryou.

She let out a sigh. As she walked into the change room, she saw something that appeared to be a gift wrapped in pink tissue. Obviously, it was for her. She went closer to it. It had her name on it. She didn't recognize the hand writing though. She sat down and looked around. It was strange that someone would leave a gift for her. She unwrapped it.

Out came a squeal. She had seen this gift before. It was only yesterday. In the little ornament shop, it was the little black cat on a big strawberry. 'Ryou... Must have bought me this... It can't be anyone else...' She questioned herself. She became deep in thought, wondering where on Earth this came from.

Ryou strolled by the changing rooms, and then stopped in front. He saw her expression.

"Yo." A simple greeting.

She knew the voice. She quickly jumped up, revealing her cat ears and tail. Ryou snickered. "R-Ry- Shirogane!"

"Still happy to see me I see." He smirked. "Nice ears, Baka."

"I told you I'm not a baka." Her ears went away. Did he get her this? "Hey... Shirogane?"

"What is it?" He looked at her a little confused. She wondered about his expression.

She hesitated for a moment. "D-D- I know this may sound funny, but did you get me this?" She lifted up the little ornament to show him.

"No." His answer was so simple. She didn't know if he was telling the truth. She stared into his eyes. "Why would I get you something?"

She looked down at the ornament. 'Yeah... of course, you wouldn't.' She just smiled though, hiding her true feelings.

"Maybe it's a secret admirer." He blushed a little in the cheeks. She never noticed though. "Anyways, go home."

"What?" She was lost in her thoughts again. "Oh... Right."

But she just couldn't leave yet. She had to know something. She did figure that he wasn't going to tell her anyways, but Ichigo just had to ask. She had to take a chance. She got up and headed towards him.

"Shirogane..."

Stopped a couple of centimetres before him, she looked at him. It was as if her eyes were trying to pierce through his tough exterior and get inside. He couldn't let her though. "What now, Baka."

"Where... Where were you today?"

During the day she had versioned him with someone else. Another girl. Someone more pretty than she is. Someone more intelligent. Someone who.. Who isn't her? She couldn't bare her imagination. She had to find out the truth. Ichigo saw that Ryou's face turned red the instant after she asked the question. She never let her eyes off of him.

He hesitated.

**End | Chapter 5**

I'll try to have Chapter 6 up soon. Just wait till when school starts. ...


	6. An Unexpected Event

I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew. If I did, like I've said all the times before, I would have Ichigo and Ryou end up together. She would be in his arms, her father would be okay with it, and I sure as hell wouldn't have to make up "Break up with Masaya" scenes.

Anyways so I've gotten around to (finally) writing Chapter 6. I hope you enjoy it. Kthnx.

(Written on September 1 2006)  
**Chapter 6 | An Unexpected Event**

He quickly stated that he was just doing some research, nothing more.

Ichigo wasn't sure whether he was telling the truth or not. She wasn't going to question his answer though; after all he did keep to himself most of the time. If there was something she wanted to find out, she would have to ask Keiichiro about that. "Oh, alright. I'll be off now."

Ryou glanced over at his watch. 'When did it get so late?' He knew that she had stayed late, but now it was going on to midnight. He wasn't exactly ready to let her walk home at this time. He would just have to walk her home himself. He snickered. An idea was going through his head.

"I'll walk you home."

She was a faint red in the cheeks. He could see that. She nodded at his demand.

Maybe this was another chance to let him know how she really felt. Maybe it was a chance to get closer to him, to know what he's thinking or feeling at anytime. She wanted to find out more about him. She would never give up a chance to do that. Not to mention, she would be spending more time with the one she loved.

They walked towards the door. He opened for her. She quickly walked outside. He stopped to lock the cafe's doors. Now they were on their way. They were walking for ten minutes before another said something. She was beginning to think this wasn't going to work out the way she planned. She wanted to say something, but what?

"Ichigo." Her thoughts were disturbed. She didn't even realize that it was actually Ryou calling her name.

He had stopped in his tracks after saying something. Ichigo stopped also. She turned around and looked at him. They weren't that far apart. Ryou reached out and grabbed her waist, pulling her closer. She blushed. She was getting excited, as seen by her cat features popping out immediately. He smirked. He wanted to scratch her ears, but he held back.

He moved in, gently and slowly. His lips were pressed on top of her lips. She paused for a moment. There was no hesitatation to kiss back, but it was a little too late for that. The transformation had already happen. The black kitten was sitting on the ground.

This wasn't good. She didn't want to be a little kitten at a time like this. It was ruining her plans; then again they were never actually acted on.

"Change me back." She meowed right afterwards.

An obvious reaction came from Ryou. "No way." He picked her up, holding her close to his chest.

Ichigo's cat face didn't change at all, but she could feel herself becoming hot and nervous. 'What is he doing to me?' It wasn't like Ryou to actually hold her close, unless he was aiming for a sneak-kiss. What were his intentions?

He started to scratch her ears. He had always wanted to do so. Now he could, she wouldn't be able to resist. Sure, she could scratch him and bite him. It would be worth it. She purred with satisfaction. He started to pet her black fur, every once in a while, going back to scratch her ears to hear her purr some more. He loved that sound.

It was like that the entire way home. He stopped before he did reach her house though. It would be better to turn it back now, before someone saw her transform. Might look a little strange. Ichigo was wondering what he was doing now.

He lifted up the kitten, to align her with his face. He looked at her. More snickering came from his mouth. She could feel his lips pressed against her little kitten mouth. No doubt, it was finally time to turn back human.

So the transformation came, and she was human once again. She fell over, on top of him. They both blushed, Ichigo red as ever. Before she could look up, and finally see that he was showing some other emotion, he quickly looked away trying to hide it.

"Get off me, baka."

She didn't listen though. She just wrapped her arms around his waist, wishing to stay there forever. He blushed some more. It was useless to try to hide it from her now. She never did see his expressions. 'Please don't let this be a dream.' She said to herself.

She tightened her grip. She wouldn't let go. Ryou didn't bother to attempt getting her off him. He was enjoying this.

"Baka..."

"Ichigo! What are you doing?" An unpleasant voice shouted out. Was it Ryou? "Ichigo Momomiya!" He shouted cursed words. She glanced up.

Letting go of Ryou's body, she jumped up. "Dad!"

"Who is this boy here?" He shouted some more, mentioning something about her being too young for boys. He cursed some more.

Ichigo tried to explain herself. "Dad- he's, uh,"

"I'm her boss." Ryou said as he got up, wiping the dirt from his pants. "Do you have a problem with that?"

'He's more than just that...' She thought to herself, blushing a little. Her father noticed that.

"Cocky little fellow, aren't you. What are you doing with my daughter at this time of night?" He demanded from the young blonde.

"I was walking her home." He paused. "Or would you rather have her walk home alone at this time of night? I'm sure there are worse people than me out at this time."

Her father knew he was right about that, so he didn't try to comment on that just yet. Instead he just ignored him, acting more arrogant. He grabbed Ichigo's arm. "Come on, Ichigo. Your mother is worried." He pulled her towards the mobile bike.

Ryou just stood there. She didn't even say anything. In a flash, he couldn't see her anymore.

"Bye baka." With that he turned the other way and started walking back to the cafe.

When he arrived, Keiichiro was in the kitchen.

"Did you tell her yet?"

"Tell her what." Ryou wasn't clueless. He knew where his best friend was getting at.

"You know what I'm talking about." He smiled.

"No, I don't." He started to walk away. "I'm going to bed."

Walking up the stairs, a flashback of Ichigo holding on to his body tightly passes through his head. He's already at his bedroom. He collapses on his bed. "Ichigo..."

Ryou was awoken by the bright rays of the sun. It was going to be another beautiful day. He took his normal morning shower, and waited to get dressed. He stared outside his window for quite a while, thinking of only one thing.

A friendly voice called out to him.

He turned around. His best friend was there. "I'll be opening the shop soon." Ryou nodded.

It was another regular morning. Keiichiro would let him know when he would be opening the shop. The four other girls would get here on time. Mint would slack off as she drank her tea, and commanding the other girls. Pudin would perform tricks for the customers. Retasu would shyly talk to him, as she served the customers. She would break a few plates here and there, but there wasn't much of a problem with that these days. And Zakura... Well this time she was there doing her regular job as the other girls would.

But Ichigo, she would be late. Ryou would be waiting for her, just to nag her and see her get worked up. It was a little part of her that he loved to see.

The girls arrived on time. Ichigo was still nowhere to be found. Ryou stayed in his bedroom. After getting dressed, he resumed back to his regular spot by the window. He looked outside.

He saw his Strawberry rush to the cafe. He smirked. Ichigo ran straight inside, she closed the door behind her, gasping for air.

The four Mews greeted her.

"You're late again, baka." He shouted to her.

Ichigo looked up at him. He had a serious look on his face. 'Could he be upset for what I did yesterday...? Or my dad?' She wondered. She didn't say anything though. She just stayed still.

He walked down the stairs. The other girls watched him. He went straight up to her. Didn't even say a word. He just did a single action. Flicked her head, and walked away.

Mint noticed Ichigo blushing. Of course, now she knows there's something going on between the two. She would have to investigate.

"Oh, Ichigo, come here."

**End | Chapter 6**

That's all for now.


	7. Obvious Discoveries

Sorry for the long wait. It might happen again, just to let you know. To be honest, I feel like ftfradiecat is my number one fan. I suppose it's just one of those things I just had to point that out. Also I'm sorry for the last of updates recently. I've been out of it lately. I also have to point out the obvious fact that I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.

(Written on September 14 2006)  
**Chapter 7 | Obvious Discoveries**

"So this mystery man... Someone we know?" Mint figured she knew the answer already. But would Ichigo actually say the same person as her thoughts? That was the riddle worth figuring out.

Ichigo hesitated before she answered. She didn't want to deny it even though she was not ready to tell Mint. Especially with Retasu in the other room. She didn't know if she still had some feelings for Ryou. Either way she wouldn't want to upset her friend. But then again it was time that Retasu moved on, Pai always played his moves. She just shook her head at Mint's questions then hurried with an excuse about having to get ready to work.

Mint just smiled. More investigation would have to be done.

Ichigo was assigned to sweep in front of the shop again. She grabbed the broom and went forth. Started to sweep, but got carried away in something else.

She saw Ryou walking past her. It was time.

"Can I talk to you, Shiroga- Ryou?" She simply asked.

Ryou stopped in his tracks. What could his Strawberry want to talk to him about this time? Since he didn't want to guess the reason why, he just nodded with a lack of anticipation.

"Well uh," Was she really ready to tell him? She always wanted to tell him about the way she felt. She wasn't exactly ready for rejection, but it was now or never. She looked down tightening her fists. "I like you!"

She had shouted her confession. Ryou was surprised to hear so, just more than happy about it now. He walked up to her, grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him. "I like you too." With those words, he swept in for a kiss.

Ryou watched his Strawberry from a far. She was slacking off as she would many times in her situation. Every time she was to sweep the front, she would just stand there day dreaming about something less important than her job. It was the predicament every single time. He was already used to it, but no doubt, he would have to say something about her. So he walked towards her slowly.

He knew that she wasn't noticing him. He did it. "Baka!" He flicked her forehead. She fell over, crashing on her side. She looked up at him. He was standing there with a big smirk on his face. How casual.

"Just... Just a dream?" She had said that out loud.

He ignored the remark she made. He was already aware that she was in the middle of a day dream. "Baka, get back to work. Stop slacking off!"

"You're the baka! And I'm not slacking off! I'm doing my job! Go yell at the other girls."

"Why? They're all doing their job. So why don't you be like them?"

Ichigo was angry now. He knew as much as she did that they were never actually doing any of the hard work. Besides we all know that Ichigo is the hardest working one of them all. 'They should be more like me!' She thought to herself, growing angrier at her secret crush. She looked like she was ready to explode. Ryou, of course, was getting some satisfaction from all this. He just smiled.

"I do a lot more than them! Actually, I do everything around here. I work the hardest! Why do we always have to go through this ever day?"

Ryou just sighed. "Whatever, Baka." He had said those words as he turned around. He was already ready to make her look like a fool. "Are you really doing your job?"

"Y-Yes, I am."

"And I suppose your job is lying on the ground."

She grew a little embarrassed. She had completely forgotten that she was on the ground. Before she had gotten up, Ryou had already walked back towards the little pink cafe, waving his back hand as a goodbye signal. He looked so arrogant.

She brushed the dirt off her pink uniform then attended to her work. She quickly finished sweeping the front and headed back to the cafe. The cafe was already opened but there were only a few customers around. It would be the usual routine. Though it seemed this time there was something off. The cafe seemed more sufficient than usual.

Ryou occasionally came around the girls telling them to get back to work or to order them around. They would listen and Ichigo would the one to put up a strong front. Just another routine they enjoyed.

Closing came by as the time flew by. The girls went to change as Ichigo stayed back.

Mint would not leave the cafe as Ichigo cleaned up. Apparently she already had something planned for the evening.

"Want to come over later tonight?" She asked Ichigo. "All the girls are coming over- It'll be fun!"

"Sure."

Mint stayed back as Ichigo went to change. It seemed like she was waiting forever. She heard some footsteps.

"Geez- You takes so long." She got up, turning to face the wrong person. "Oh- Shirogane!"

"What are you doing here so late? I thought you left a while ago."

"No... I'm waiting for Ichigo."

"Ichigo?"

She raised her right eyebrow to show a sign of curiosity. "Yeah, Ichigo. We're having a little get together tonight." She paused for a moment, raising a small smile. "Want to come?"

Just then Ichigo walked back into the dining area, all ready to go. She had already told her mom that she would be spending the night at Mint's with the other girls. She heard what Mint was saying to Ryou, but she would never expect her to offer that. 'What is Mint thinking? Does... Does she know?'

Ryou noticed Ichigo as soon as her cat features sprung out of nowhere. It was obvious that she was embarrassed. "I don't have time to play with little girls." He walked away back into the kitchen.

Ichigo watched him as he walked past her. She could feel some kind of wind against her body as he walked by. She could feel her heart beat against her chest. She didn't say anything. Not a single word. However she rushed out of the cafe. Mint followed slowly behind her.

"Wh-what are you doing?"

"Oh, I guess it's not him then..." She sighed.

Ichigo was a little angry. Sure, it was him but there was no way she should have assumed it. There wasn't any secret tension that they haven't seen before. If there was, it was just between the fights. They never got serious in front of each other, nor did they ever attempt to make a move. But it didn't matter now; she was still not ready to give up the identity.

The walk to Mint's house was quiet. The girls were already there they reached the house. They were waiting for them in the living room. As they greeted each other, they all ran towards Mint's big bedroom. The girls went in separate rooms so that they could change into something more comfortable to sleep when the right time came.

They gathered in a group so they could spread news of gossip. It was only time the 'mystery man' issue would come up.

"So Pai?"

Retasu blushed a bit before she answered. "I haven't gotten around to that yet." Retasu didn't feel any emotions towards Ryou now. Ichigo knew this is the perfect situation.

Mint glared at Ichigo. She could tell that she was deep in her thoughts. It must have been time.

"Ichigo, who's the mystery man? Are you sure it's not Ryou?"

Ichigo face turned bright red, as if you could see her face glowing with embarrassment. Retasu and Purin had a shocked look on their faces. Mint just sat there with a big grin on her face. She had hit it. It didn't even matter about what had happen before, but Ichigo denied it again.

"Of course not. Who would like him? Just another rich snob-"

"With a pretty face." One of them said. The others shook their head in agreement. It was true that Ryou Shirogane was very attractive. Even with his top-shot attitude, it just made him glow a little more. He always did stand out of a crowd. All of the girls adored the way he looked.

Ichigo mumbled yeah lightly.

"So it's true then." Another remark from Mint. "You like Ryou."

"I said I do not!" She paused for a moment, glancing down. She knew that she would have to admit it someday. She couldn't hide it from her closest friends forever. "Okay." She looked up at them. "Maybe, I do. Just a little."

The girls started asking thousands of questions about her 'new-found' feelings for Ryou. It seemed like it was never going to end. They could go on forever asking thousands of little questions, asking more details.

Ichigo fell back. "I need some air!"

"There's a window you can open over there." Mint pointed in the other direction.

Ichigo pranced over to the huge window with the black borders. She opened it a little, letting in some air. She sighed. "I finally told them. I guess its okay. They won't do anything..." She paused for a moment. "That's not true. Mint would." She opened the window a little more.

She stared at the dark sky. The stars were brighter than ever. It wasn't even that late. She looked down towards the houses on the other side. She could see them through the opening between the cement walls. "They look peaceful."

She scuffed, feeling a little more relaxed. "What am I going to do...? Ryou... Ryou..." She closed her eyes. Deep thoughts consumed her mind. 'Maybe I should just... just take a chance! I'll ask him out, yeah yeah!'

She opened her eyes. They were filled with determination and anticipation. She turned to close the window, glancing outside just for one more time. 'A man?' A dark figure was walking in front of the opening of the two cement walls. The figure was tall and slim. It was quite obvious it was a male.

She had already closed the window but stayed to watch the figure. It was as if she knew who the shadow was already. She felt some kind of connection.

The figure walked into the light of the moon. You could see part of his face. Blond hair and a smirk.

"Ryou?" She shouted. The other girls ran to her, wondering what could possibly had happen. She turned around to face them. "Ryou- Ryou... He's outside!"

They looked outside the window. Nothing in sight.

"You're already dreaming of Ryou?"

She looked outside. 'I could have sworn-'

"Come on, let's go."

Ichigo dragged her feet to the bed. 'Maybe it's just my imagination. I've been thinking too long!' Purin jumped on the bed beside her. 'Still full of energy, as always.'

"Hey Ichigo..."

"Huh? Uh, yeah?"

"So why are you keeping that bell?" Ichigo reached to touch the bell. "Didn't Masaya give that to you?"

"Yeahh-"

Before she could explain herself, Mint had already cut in. "Wouldn't that give Ryou mixed signals..."

Ichigo knew she was right. This bell represented how Masaya wanted to keep the relationship between them. If she had this bell, then does Ryou still think she has feelings for him? That she's not exactly ready for another relationship. That wasn't the case. She wanted to be with Ryou now. She had something important to do now.

**End | Chapter 7**


	8. Take the Right Action

I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew nor do I own any of the characters. I only get to write fan fiction. Which also means I get to write short and boring chapters involving major information to clarify past events or set a mood. So here's a short chapter..

(Written on September 18, 2006)  
**Chapter 8 | Take the Right Action**

In another place far away from the love he loved, he was laying on his bed wondering what in the world she could be doing right now. He often wondered about the activities that his Strawberry liked to do. He would always be interested in anything that would make her happy. And if by some lucky chance, he was the one who was able to make her that happy; his heart would feel such satisfaction. All he ever really wanted to do was to protect the ones he loved, to make them happy, to care for them. He wasn't able to do that once upon a time. This time, that chance, there was no way it could escape his grasp.

He knew that she was over at Mint's house. He figured she must be enjoying herself. It was like she needed a small break from all the tension. Breaking up and putting on such a strong front. He knew she was strong, he really did. He would never let her go back to him though.

He sat up on his bed and looked around. Reached over and grabbed something that was on his desk. It was the group picture of all Tokyo Mew Mews. He stared at his Strawberry's pink hair and cat like features. 'So... So adorable...' Ryou had looked at the picture enough to be able to describe every detail in Ichigo's features. The picture was sketched into his mind.

He was feeling a little hungry now. He hadn't had anything to eat since earlier in the morning. He stood straight up and left his bedroom. Making sure he closed the door behind him, he strolled down the hall with his hands in his pocket. He was still thinking of his klutzy cat girl as he slowly walked down step by step.

By the time he got to the ground, his lingering fingers traced the wall. He continued to slowly stroll into the kitchen. He headed straight to the cupboard to look for something to eat. Nothing there was quite able to please his appetite.

He turned around to look at the fridge. He decided that there might be something in there. Straight to the fridge he went. He did find something. It was just a simple container of ordinary white rice. It would fill him until the next day at least.

He pulled the container out of the fridge. Shutting the door with his back foot, he went to the other cupboard to get a bowl. He placed some rice in the bowl, then into the microwave to heat up his rice. He set the time and went back to put the remainder rice back in the fridge. He strolled over to the table and sat on the chair while he waited for his food.

"Maybe I should buy some groceries or something."

"That would be a good idea." A familiar voice. Ryou turned around to see who it was. He already knew but now it was just to verify his answer. His tall yet so slim friend was standing there smiling as always. "You should stop eating left - overs."

Ryou knew he was right. He's been eating left - overs for most evenings. He really didn't want to go out to eat, hence that would take away time from seeing and nagging Ichigo. He really didn't mind eating the left - overs though.

"I'll buy some tomorrow. What are you doing here?" It wasn't often that Keiichiro stayed this late at the cafe.

"Just doing some more research. Nothing big."

"Did you find anything?"

"Nope. I'm going to try tomorrow."

Ryou nodded his head.

"So did you-" Keiichiro was interrupted by the ding of the microwave. Ryou got up as Keiichiro continued his sentence. "Did you tell her yet?"

Ryou started to play his 'confused' card. "Did I tell who what?" He started eating some of his rice.

"Ichigo. Your feelings." Keiichiro was more straight-forward about it. "Are you ever going to tell her?"

"Huh?" He raised his head. Ryou looking more confused than ever, though he wasn't. "Feelings?"

"We're going over this again? We already know you like Ichigo. I've known you long enough to figure that much." He smiled at Ryou. "How long are you going to deny it?"

"I'll let her know when I develop feelings for a baka."

Keiichiro just smiled at Ryou. "Oh?"

Ryou paused for quite some time. "I guess I do..." He gave it up. "Of course, you're the only one that can see through this."

"Are you going to let her know at least?"

Ryou waited to respond. "I don't know why..." He started to eat the remainder of his rice. "No. Not yet." He got up to put his bowl away.

"Why not?"

"She, uh, doesn't..." He leaned against the kitchen sink. He paused again. "It's not the right time."

"Maybe." It was true that Keiichiro already realized that Ichigo had completely gotten over Masaya, that she had moved on and even developed some feelings towards Ryou.

Ryou strolled back to the chair. He leaned on its two back legs and lifted up his feet over the table. "No."

Keiichiro sighed. "What about that gift you got her?"

"Oh, that? She doesn't know it's from me..."

"Of course." He should have figured that much. "What were you doing tonight? I didn't see you."

"I was asleep in my room. I only woke up half an hour ago or so."

Keiichiro yawned. "Alright. I'll be off now."

"Night."

Keiichiro walked out of the kitchen. Ryou kept in the same position. It was getting late now, so he'd better be off also. He would have to wake up early as usual. He got up and strolled his way back to his bedroom. He collapsed on his bed thinking of what Keiichiro had said earlier.

"Tell her, huh?" Ryou really didn't think that was a possibility but he would have to do that sooner or later. It wasn't that he was afraid of any kind of rejection, more that she wouldn't take him seriously. "That baka. I should just tell her."

He turned in his bed to face the wall. "Yeah... Tell her." He began to mumble some words. He turned back around. He was slowly falling asleep, mumbling words of encouragement. "I'll let her know tomorrow."

**End | Chapter 8**

I guess Ichigo was really imagining things.


	9. A Time to Confess

I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew, nor do I own any of the characters. I enjoy writing boring chapters, I really do. Let's just add in some excitement. Enjoy chapter nine.

(Written on September 25, 2006)  
**Chapter 9 | A Time to Confess**

The red head rubs her hands against her eyes. It's a new day. It's a bright morning. The sky is such a bright blue. It's clear, not a single cloud in sight. The sunlight shines through the blinds shining on her face. She mumbles words directed towards her mother. Something about not wanting to go to school today. She has completely forgotten that she was at Mint's house. She forgot telling the girls, however, she remembers that there's something she should be doing later.

She hadn't planned how the event was going to go. She figured she would just wing it. She opened her eyes to face the other Mews. They were always awake before her. She smiled at them, raising one of her hands. "Hoii girls." She fell back down in a sleepy daze. "Just a ... Couple more minutes..." Her voice was low and muffled by the blankets.

She closed her eyes and fell back into the deep sleep. Oh well, it wasn't that early anyways.

"She sleeps too much."

"It must be why she's always late."

"She'll never get on his good side being late."

"If he liked her, he wouldn't care about that. He isn't like that." The usual Retasu. Always bring out the good qualities in someone, even though she's still shy.

"She's useless." Mint suggests. "But I still love our cat-girl. Maybe we should wake her up."

"No, let her sleep longer. Where did Pudin go?"

"Uh, I think she said something about tarts..." Mint winked at Retasu. That made her blush.

Ichigo slightly opened her eyes as she heard voices from afar. She was well aware of where she was this time. She sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, glancing around for sign of life. 'They must be in the other rooms.' She got up and headed for the other rooms.

"Think she'll ever tell him?"

Ichigo opened the door a little.

"Probably not. Let's do it."

Ichigo blushed a bright red again. She swung the door open with some fury. "I'll do it! Leave it alone!"

Mint smirked at the newly aggressive Ichigo. She nodded her heads, mumbling words of agreement. Of course, she really knew Ichigo would never actually get around to doing so. But it still would be fun to watch her.

Ichigo went downstairs to fetch herself some breakfast. The other girls had already eaten. They ate right after Ichigo fell back asleep. It's been more than an hour since she's been out. She slowly ate her breakfast wondering if she'll ever tell him. Never mind that, but how would she tell him?

"Maybe I should just come out with it..." She sighed. "No."

She finished up. Heading back upstairs, she continued her train of thought. She opened the bedroom door. The girls were lying in a circle again. 'One, two, three, four?' Another body lay down with them. It was a female. "Taruto?"

"Hey old hag."

Ichigo grew more furious. She hated when he called her an old hag. She didn't even resemble someone older than twenty, nor was she a hag. She yelled out words. A regular 'conversation' that would happen.

"Ah, it's Sunday. I have some homework to-"

"It's Sunday?" Ichigo freaked out. She had always put her homework to the side. Once again, she would be etching to get some assistance from her friends. "Haaaiii Lettuuceee." She grinned at her. "Could ya help me out?"

Before Retasu could reply, Mint just had to cut in. "Ichigo."

"Hoi?"

"You should ask Ryou for help. He's a genius, after all."

"I ... I guess so." Would that be her chance to get closer to him? To actually admit the way she feels. It seems it's been forever since she last tried. It wasn't something that she wanted to hold off until the last minute. But she just couldn't find the right words at any time. It didn't help much that Ryou was nagging her about her job most of the time. But that's what she fell for. She's already past the point of acceptance, now to make her move. She shouted out with determination. "I'll do it!"

She stayed at Mints house for a couple hours afterwards. She went home to pick up her things, and to look attractive for later. It was about one o'clock when she finally got home. She collapsed on her bed. She still felt somewhat tired.

She was out the door as soon as she felt ready. What kind of an excuse could she use this time? She remembered how he refused her that time during the summer break end. Perhaps she would play more of a charm this time, and it would be irresistible to deny her.

She carried her books against her chests as she walked. The trip there didn't seem to take that long, especially since she had day-dreamed most of the time. She arrived at the cafe. It looked a little lonely. No one was ever at the cafe on Sundays, only Keiichiro or Shirogane. She was wondering if he would be here too.

She opened the front door. It was always unlocked. She walked inside as she closed the door behind her.

"Hello?" She called out. "Must be in his room."

First she headed to the kitchen to see if Keiichiro was there. She opened the door a bit. Nope.

She turned around and went upstairs to find Ryou. Up the stairs and down the hall she went. She was feeling a little excited. She stopped in front of his door. She wasn't going to knock this time, not that she ever did. "Shirogane!" She shouted as she swung the door open.

It revealed an empty room. His room was tidied as always. The picture of the group wasn't on his desk anymore. The lights were off. The only light was the sunlight peeping through the blinds.

"That's odd."

She closed the door. She decided that she could start on her assignments as she waited for someone. She expected him to be back anytime now. She climbed her way downstairs.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there alone. It felt like forever to her. She was deep in her thoughts, trying to solve the equations. A creaking noise came from the door. There was someone opening it from the other side. She didn't have an idea though.

"What are you doing here, baka?"

She jumped exposing her cat features to the unknown voice. It wasn't going to be unknown any longer since she turned to see who it was. 'Baka?' A dark shadow was standing in front of the opened door. It closed the door. It was none other than her sassy blond boss.

He was standing there with two large brown bags of groceries in each of his arms. He had this sort of annoyed expression planted on his face. He still looked attractive, as Ichigo pointed out.

"Uh, homework?"

"Don't you have your own room for that?"

"It's too loud there." She watched Ryou walk to the kitchen to put away the bags. Once he was in there, with the door closed, she followed. She took a peek inside. "Can you help me?"

Ryou was busy putting the groceries away. "No. Busy."

Ichigo frowned. Rejection again. Definitely not an option. "Com'on," she began to plead with her stubborn crush. "I really need some help. No one wants to help me..." A short pause. "So what are you busy with?"

"I have to make something." He said in a low tone.

"I can help."

Ryou grinned at her. He tried to imagine his Strawberry cooking. Oh, wait; he had already seen what had happened last time: a complete disaster. "Uh, love that idea," his tone was sarcastic. "But no. Go work. I'll help you after I'm done here."

She was filled with such joy. She said 'alright' cheerfully. She turned the other way, going back to sit down.

Ryou watched the door close. "I have to tell her today, huh." He finished up in the kitchen and went downstairs. Keiichiro should be there doing some more research.

"Hoi," he called out from the bottom of the stairs. He walked to Keiichiro to see what was going on. "Found anything?"

"No. Everything seems to be clear."

"Alright. I'll be upstairs."

When he got upstairs, it looked like Ichigo was deep in thought. He chuckled to himself. It wasn't often he saw a sight like that. She looked extremely cute scratching the side of her head and writing down answers. He strolled over to her silently. Ryou sat down right beside his Strawberry. He looked over to see what she was doing. A few history assignments.

Even though he did avoid helping her as much as he could, she managed to get a few answers out of the genius. After hours passed by, she dropped her head on the desk, buried it in between her arms, nagging about how tiring and boring it was. She sighed. There was a lot of relief in this. Not only did she managed to finish her homework, she somewhat managed to get a little closer to Ryou. She didn't want to confess to him yet since she hadn't given back the bell.

Ryou, on the other hand, was ready to confess to her. However he never managed to. He did make sharp remarks about her, but couldn't get it out. He didn't accept that though, he had to tell her. He had to manage out some of his emotions.

Ichigo made a few squeals as she stretched. Ryou just watched her. She was unconsciously bringing her head closer to Ryou's, giving him a small kiss on the cheek. She soon realized what she was doing. She screamed and backed up, falling over her chair.

"What was that?"

"A-a-ahh, uh, a thank you! That's all, that's all!" She shouted, feeling embarrassed. She attempted hiding her cat features from Ryou. He just smirked. "So-sorry!"

"It's alright. I'm just a little shocked..." He could tell that she didn't exactly understand. "Usually, I'm the one who kisses you."

Her face grew redder as she kept hiding her cat features from him. He got up and walked towards her. He held out his hand.

"You don't have to hide them from me." She grabbed his hand and he helped her up. Her body was close to him. She could feel his warmth once again. He thought this would be the perfect time to let her know. "Ichigo... There's something I need to tell you."

She didn't respond. She just nodded her head.

He was blushing. He wanted to hide that but he didn't look away. He had to maintain eye contact. "I, um..." He paused. "I've been meaning to... uh, tell you this but..."

"Ryou!" Keiichiro shouted as he barged into the room. "I might have found something." With that, he quickly took off without noticing that Ichigo was there.

Ryou didn't exactly know what his best friend was talking about. There was only one thing he knew for certain. He still hadn't confessed to Ichigo about his secret feelings towards her. He wondered if he could still possibly tell her even when he had to hurry with it. Earlier the words wouldn't come out.

"Strawberry."

"Huh?"

He pulled her by her waist, getting closer to her. Then he kissed her. A pink bubble of smoke appeared changing Ichigo into the lovable black kitten. He waited for the smoke to dismiss. Once it did, he picked up the kitten. He held her close to him and kissed her again. Another transformation. She had fallen on the floor when she turned back to the wild cat girl. She stared into his eyes, as he did also.

"I'm the only one who can kiss you, Baka Strawberry."

He didn't blush. He just ran downstairs to see what was up with Keiichiro.

"... Ry- Ryou."

**End | Chapter 9**


	10. Jealousy Runs Deep

I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew, nor do I own any of the characters that take part in this fanfiction. Key Word : Fan.

(Written on September 27, 2006)  
**Chapter 10 | Jealousy Runs Deep**

Ichigo stayed on the ground as Ryou's last words repeats throughout her mind. It seems to be in a complete shocked state of mind. She knows she heard his words exactly what he said. There would be no mistaking it this time. He told her he's the only one able to kiss her.

It was true. She wasn't going to argue with that. He was the only one that she wanted to kiss. He was the only one that she wanted to be with. Ryou was the one that made her fluttered, her heart raced and drew her mind utterly blank. There was no one else that she wanted to be near. No one could fill his spot.

A muffled voice called out to her.

She managed to get up sometime after she heard Ryou's calling voice. He said he would be back later. She swears it was the first time he ever did such a thing. She brushed off the dirt from her pants. Grabbing her books, she left the cafe. Now she really had to do it.

She arrived home just a little past five o'clock. She had giggled or dozed herself in multiple fantasies on the way home. She was exactly like a wild fan girl. She decided that she would tell Mint what had happened, after all, Mint is her best friend. She walked up to her bedroom after she grabbed the portable phone. She dialled the numbered.

"Hai! Is Mint there?"

"I'm sorry dear, but Mint has stepped out for the moment. I'll let her know you called."

"Alright. Thank you."

A failure. Even though the day seemed almost perfect to her, she really wish she could tell someone what had happened. She dropped herself on the bed as she started to remember what Ryou said earlier.

"The only one?" She smiled as she giggled to herself. "Of course, I love you, Ryou Shirogane. Only you." She grabbed her pillow and held it tight.

Her mother yelled to her, saying it was time for dinner. She went downstairs and ate with her family. As the hour passed by, a phone call was finally received. "Ichigo! Telephone!" Her mother called out.

She picked up the phone. "Hello, hello?"

"Ichigo, its Mint. Did you call?"

"Yes!" She was so happy she could tell her now. "Ryou- Ryou, uhh, I think."

"... Ichigo?"

Ichigo couldn't bring herself to say it. She didn't know why. But it was unbelievable. The guy of her dreams actually saying something like that. She spent most of the night thinking that he was holding some kind of feelings towards her. Her dream had come true. "I think, I think Ryou likes me!" She finally exclaimed.

"What!"

Ichigo explained to Mint what had happened. From the start of helping her with her homework, even though he really didn't want to, to the end of when he exclaimed those powerful words. Ichigo was feelings really excited and nervous right now. "What do you think?"

"I think," she paused. "Get rid of that stupid bell and tell him how you feel."

**- Q -**

The night was pitch black. They watched as the sun fall over and night came sneaking inside. They were searching for some kind of evidence for hours. It seemed they were going nowhere. They would have to give up on their search tonight.

"It's getting pretty dark. We won't be able to see anything."

"We'll head back for tonight. Try again in the morning?"

"Alright." Keiichiro smiled at Ryou. It was time for an inquiry. "Did you tell her yet?"

Ryou began to blush. He figured this would come up sooner or later. He wondered if his best friend had heard what he said to her earlier. The chances were low; there was still no way of being certain. "Uhh, well." He scratched the side of his head. "Sort of. I'm going to go more in depth tomorrow."

"What do you mean sort of?"

"I kind of played it out like she was property..." Ryou grinned. His Strawberry was his no matter what. It wasn't that she was a piece of property to claim, it's just that he wouldn't tolerate it having any other way. He wouldn't let anyone else be with her.

"Pro- property?" He laughed. "Ryou, you haven't changed at all." He messed up his childhood friend's hair with his long fingers.

Ryou looked at the stars most of the way back to the cafe. He bid his farewell to Keiichiro and went up to his bedroom. He turned on the lights. His bed was a mess. He did not bother with it as he jumped into bed, pulling off his clothing. Before he knew it, he was already asleep.

The morning was beautiful like all the others. It had been such a beautiful week. The sun was always shining bright. The birds sang their songs as they sat on the branches of the trees. There was only a little breeze when night came around. Otherwise the day could be described as being perfect. He managed to get out of bed as his alarm clock went off. It was earlier than usual. He left his room. Straight into the bathroom to take a shower.

After he was done, he went back into his bedroom to put on a pair of gray boxers. He knew that today was going to be a good day. He stayed in front of his window with a towel hanging on his shoulders. He quickly got dressed after he stayed in the same position for five minutes. He went downstairs to fix himself some breakfast.

"Morning." Keiichiro came in the room.

"Morning." Ryou responded. He got up to put his bowl away. "I'm going to head out early today. Can you do some more research?"

Keiichiro nodded. Ryou headed out the door. He started walking along the park's pathway. He had only been there not even nine hours ago. They couldn't find anything. He would try again anyways. This was his project. So much determination, so much love, so much time, and so much pain went into this project.

He arrived at the destination and continued his search.

**- Q -**

"Today is the day!" The red head shouted with euphuism.

She held onto the necklace tight. She could still hear the bell ring. All she had to do now is find Masaya.

She searched the entire school during the little break they had. But still he was nowhere to be found. She wasn't ready to give up though. She didn't want it. She wouldn't keep it. She heard the first bell ring. "I guess I'll have to find him after school then."

**- Q -**

"R - r - r - r - r - r."

He heard his phone ringing. He reached in his pocket to pick it up. "Hello."

"Keiichiro, I can't find anything here." Ryou looked around the place. "Are you sure you found anything?"

"Well what I found yesterday seems to be gone today."

"That's odd." Ryou sighed. He looked at his watch. "If there's nothing else, I'm going to leave."

"That's fine. Talk to you later, okay?"

"Yeah." He hung up. He placed his phone back into his pocket. He started to watch in the direction of Ichigo's school. 'She should be getting off soon.'

As the highly attractive blond arrived at her school, it caused a commotion. He could see and hear the group of girls gossiping, asking questions about whom this stranger could be. He smirked. The fans giggled some more. He started to walk in the school court. A pile of girls started to surround him.

"Who's he, he's so cute." A squeal came from her followed by more giggles from the fans.

"Aren't you the owner of Cafe Mew Mew?"

"Are you alone?" One of them asked. "Have a girlfriend?"

'Heh...' He needed to get out of this circle and closer to Ichigo. He didn't want her to see him in the center of all this. She might mistake it for something else, which weren't Ryou's intentions.

Ichigo was still in the school after the dismissal bell had rung. She was always left later than her friends. She hurried this time though. She quickly ran out the front door. As she was about to turn to the right, she saw a figure. "It's time."

She raced away from the school. "Masaya! Masaya!" She called out. "Aoyama!" She continued to call out his name as she ran forward.

Masaya finally noticed that someone was calling his name. He turned around to see who it was. "Ichigo?" He said as he stopped in his tracks.

She raced towards him with the necklace still in her hands.

"Ahh, I caught up to you." She gasped for some air. "Thanks for waiting."

"Can I help you?" Masaya said with the usual smile on his face.

Ryou tried to get away from the crowd of swarming fan girls. He attempted to use his charm to ask the girls to quietly move out of his way. "I'm actually here on some business. Do you mind if I get through." He smiled at them. They just squirmed some more, bringing the crowd closer in. He attempted to struggle. It seemed like no use. He raised his head high up to see if he could find Ichigo anywhere. In the middle of the school court, he spotted her. He spotted her with Masaya.

"I-Ichigo..." He said with a sigh. "You baka."

The crowd was silent.

Ichigo smiled back at Masaya. "I have something that's yours."

Masaya seemed to be a little confused about what she was talking about. He doesn't remember ever lending her something of his. Ichigo held out the bell necklace that she had received. "But... I gave you that as a gift."

"I know. I can't keep it though."

Masaya didn't want to question her reasons. He took the necklace from her hand.

Ryou watched as this all happened. To him, it wasn't like this. It looked like they were about to hold hands. He dropped his head down and turned around. "Excuse me ladies," he said in a phony cheerful voice. "Could you let me through? I've got to return to the cafe." Though the crowd still wouldn't let him go, he managed to escape their grasp. He headed back to the cafe feeling a little low. It was as if his heart was torn out. As if what he said yesterday meant absolutely nothing. The kisses meant nothing.

"I should have known." He kept repeating to himself.

**End | Chapter 10**

I'm sorry; surely you shouldn't hate me for this chapter because you'll be all good when I write Chapter 11.


	11. Action and a Reaction

This fiction writer seems to be hated. Spread the love now that Chapter 11 is available. Sorry for the delay. I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew nor do I own any of the characters that get involved with my fan writing.

Italics are proof of flashbacks.

(Written on October 1, 2006)  
**Chapter 11 | Action and a Reaction**

The upset blond walked to his cafe slowly. He wasn't in much of a hurry to go there. If he did, he felt that he would almost make it a little worse. It was true that all he ever wanted to do was to protect Ichigo and make her happy. He wanted to accomplish that so badly. And since he didn't want to be there right away, he decided to stop at the park. He sat on the bench which he sat with Ichigo a couple days earlier.

_"Now..." She had begun to speak. She didn't know if it was the right time, but she'd say it anyways. "What kind of girls do you like?" She had said it with a big grin on her face._

_The question had shocked Ryou. 'Why would she want to know that...? Maybe... Lettuce?' He had been fully aware of Retasu's feelings towards him. He just did not decline her._

_"I bet you like those snobby, sophisticated, rich girls. Probably blonde or a brunette." She had begun to summarize someone who he didn't actually have any interest in. "Probably drinks a lot of tea, like Mint." She just had to add that. "Maybe she plays tennis too... No, wait, golf!"_

_"You baka. Where do you get your information?"_

_"What? I'm just guessing." She had frowned. "If you don't like that kind of girls, then what kind do you?"_

_He blushed a little. "I don't..."_

_"Oh. You like boys!" She had shouted, growing a little angry._

_"No, Watson, I like girls. I just don't have time for them right now. With the Mew Project and all." He was lying between his teeth. He had time for girls._

He smiled to himself. "I can't help it. I still love that baka." For certain, there was no one else. He would never give up on the love he loved though. He wasn't like that. He would win her heart sooner or later. It didn't matter how long it took. He would love her forever.

He closed his eyes and laid his head back on the top of the bench. He could still see where the sun was with his eyes closed. He kept picturing his Strawberry in different expressions. Furious. Embarrassed. Fatigued. Content. He had to smile even more when the cat girl Ichigo appeared before him. He wanted to stroke her cat ears and hear her purr some more.

He opened his eyes. The sun was still bright. It was almost blinding. "Time to go back."

He got up on his feet and continued walking to his little pink Cafe Mew Mew.

He wasn't that late. The four Mew Mews welcomed him in. Of course, Ichigo was going to be coming in after him. He whipped on his sad expressions and placed another charming one. He wouldn't let Keiichiro know yet. Nor was he one to show his emotions so easily. Ten busy minutes passed by at the cafe. There were more customers than usual, probably because of Ryou's appearance at Ichigo's school. He smiled at the customers and told the girls to get back to work.

Ichigo came running in, bowing her head right in front of her boss. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

He lifts up Ichigo with two of his fingers. "It's alright, Ichigo."

The red head looked at her boss strangely. She couldn't believe it was him. He would be yelling about how she was late. It was something she expected to happen. It was something she enjoyed hearing. It made her feel like he cared a little about herself when he yelled. She nodded her head at him. "I'll get to work!"

She ran to the change room to change. As she finished, she left and came back to the dining area. She walked over towards Mint, who was casually sipping her afternoon tea, and sat with her.

"Did you do it?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Now begin Capture the Blond Part One."

Ichigo fell over her chair as Mint suggested doing that. But Mint was right. It was time to finally put this to an end. She had completed everything she needed to do. There wasn't anything holding her back. She shouted out with determination, causing a commotion in the middle of the cafe. The customers glared at her.

Ryou came in the dining room and waved his hands, averting the attention from Ichigo to him. Once the customers were back to normal, he managed to stroll his body all the way to their table.

"Ladies, well, Ichigo, can you get back to work?"

"Hai!" She said as she nodded her head. He walked away from them. "He keeps calling me by my real name..."

The day went by pretty fast to Ichigo. There was one thing puzzling her though. An unusual Ryou. It didn't seem like being extremely nice was in his nature. Every time she would start to day dream, he would be behind her. Every time she would break a plate, he would say something. Every time anything happened, he would know about it. It wasn't like that today. He seemed to be more cheerful, as if something good happened over night.

Keiichiro came in the dining room once the girls closed up. They were beginning to clear when he said he had something to say.

"Mews, we'll be having another formal ball," Keiichiro announced. Ryou came walking up behind him with five boxes. Ryou started handing out a box to each of the Mews. "So please, wear these and come around seven tomorrow night."

"Hai!" The girls said in unison.

As soon as they were finished there, they finished cleaning and went home. All of them except for Ichigo, that is. She was feeling too uneasy about going home right away. She knew there must have been something up with Ryou. He was acting nicer towards her. He hadn't said anything about her slacking off. Besides, she still wanted to spend some more time with him.

He was already upstairs in his bedroom by the time she finished changing. She grabbed her backpack and climbed up the stairs. Down the hall and straight into his bedroom, she swung the door open. Her face started to flush as she glared upon the shirtless boy.

She screamed in some kind of phony cry as she tripped over her legs. "W-why don't you ever wear a shirt?" She cried out.

"I like the way my body looks." He said with a smart smirk. "Everyone else does too."

'I know that much.' Her face grew more bright red than before as she unconsciously stared at his body. Out came a few moans and groans from her wild imagination.

"What are you doing here? You've got a long day tomorrow."

"I was," She began. "I was a little worried."

"What?" A flash of what he thought had happened earlier passed through his head. He was reminded. Still he wouldn't give up without a fight. He could make a move right now, and she couldn't say anything about that. "About me? Why?"

"Well uh..." Where was she supposed to start? Break in about how he's usually harsh towards her, not that she minds that much anymore, and it's frankly odd of him to be nice now? Yeah, that's about where she wanted to start. "You seem a little sick..." She walked up to him to place her right hand on his forehead. She placed her left hand on her forehead to compare. "Well, maybe not. It's just... You've been acting a little weird lately."

She sighed. 'Not that I mind much anyway. Heheh heh, a kiss?' She could hear Ryou's encouraging words from the other day running through her ears. She began to blush growing red as before.

"I'm not sick, but I can't say the same about you. You're really red." He crossed his arms, bearing another smirk on his face. "You should go home and get some rest. We'll need you for the ball tomorrow."

She nodded and left his room.

"I'll need you." Ryou hopped into his bed. He laid there until his eyes became heavy and his fatigue took him down.

**- Q -**

All the girls, even the always late Ichigo, arrived on time for the formal ball. They had each wore the dress that Shirogane had prepared for them. Zakura was wearing a long black ballroom dress with some purple trimming hanging from the bottom of the dress. She had her hair up with random pieces of hair dangling down touching the top of her shoulders. She was fabulous as always.

Mint had a royal blue dress similar to Zakura's, except a little shorter. There was no trimming on this one either. Instead the torso of the dress wrapped around her neck in a v-shape. Retasu looked wonderful in her dress with her hair tied up high. There were two parts of her dress. Her skirt was long with a slit a third up in the back. It was a dark green, almost black. The second part was her torso which resembled a green corset. It tied up in her back, revealing her pale skin where the lasses connected leaving an x-pattern. Pudin wore a small gown, a little like Snow Whites, which was also a golden color.

Ryou noticed Ichigo as soon as she noticed the room. He always did make her gown suit her. He knew what she would look good in, and what she would look bad in. To him, she was the prettiest girl out there. She entered the ball room gracefully as half of her hair was held back with a pink clip. There were longer bangs placed up in the front. They dangled down carelessly. She wore a tight, maroon necklace. Her top also resembled one of a corset. It also tied up in the back, leaving a straight line pattern. It didn't reveal her bare skin. There was random white lacing around the bottom and top of the corset. Her skirt was one of a ball room, a big puffy maroon skirt. Underneath was three fading white layers of more trimming.

Zakura made around the room. She always did fit in social occasions like these. It was in her super star nature. Mint didn't have a problem either. She quietly went and danced with one of the suited men there. It seemed Pudin didn't have much of a problem either. She made her way around the room performing small tricks for the guests. She couldn't help herself.

Retasu and Ichigo played it out though. They weren't very good at these kinds of occasions. A tall suited brunette walked up to Retasu.

"Care to have a dance with me?"

Retasu blushed. She nodded as she took his hand. They were off on the ballroom floor.

Ichigo stood there alone. She watched as all the girls made their way around the room. She started to twiddle with her fingers.

"A little nervous?"

She jumped a little, trying hard not to reveal her cat features to the world. That wouldn't be a good thing. "A little."

"You were like this last time." He put out his hand. "Want to dance?"

She gladly accepted it. She was waiting for him to randomly ask her. She remembered the last time that they danced. She remembered the way that she felt... How she felt fluttered, how her heart was beating so fast, how she felt safe with him, how she blushed instantly when he pulled her body closer to his. The entire time they were dancing, it was like she was floating in the middle of nowhere on a silver cloud. Even though she wasn't aware, her heart already knew that she was madly in love with him.

It was the same this time. They only difference was this time she knew why her heart was beating so fast. She couldn't stop herself. They spun around the dance floor as they circled around the room. She felt more fluttered from before, growing a little eager to finally confess the love for him. All she wanted was to be happy with him now. She knew that it was a possibility for sure and she wouldn't let go of that. She would hold on to him as long as she could and then some.

Ryou was ready to fully confess the way that he felt. Not to play her as a piece of property but more of a lover. It was time to do something about it now. He stopped dancing with her still in his arms. He said her name once, grabbed her by the arm, pulling her out of the ball room.

He let go out her hand when he strolled his way over to the balcony, looking over the fields. He looked down. Ichigo just stood there wondering what he could be thinking of.

"Ichigo," He had begun to talk in a serious tone. He was ready to sort everything out. "I know you don't want to hear this but, Masaya is too good for you."

Ichigo was silent. She didn't understand what he was talking about. She wanted to explain how there could be nothing between Masaya and her, that she loved him and only him. She didn't have the time to do so.

"I thought I made myself clear that I want to be the only one to kiss you. I'm the only one that can possibly love you this much. All I want to do is protect you. Although I do want you to be happy," he wasn't feeling vulnerable to Masaya anymore. "I can't tolerate seeing you with someone like him." A short pause in the middle. "I want to be the one with you."

Ichigo's eyes began to water.

**End | Chapter 11**


	12. Where Can We Begin?

I'm terribly sorry for the huge delay of this chapter. I don't have much of an excuse except the obvious factor that I've managed to create more of a life in the last two months. But thankfully because of that, I've gained so much creativity and ideas for this story, it's amazing. So I hope you enjoy the newest addition to Where Love Meets. And do keep the reviews coming, they give me motivation. D: (greedy little girl here)

Remember boys and girls, I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew!

(Written on January 1, 2007)  
**Chapter 12 | Where Can We Begin?**

Ichigo's eyes steamed as hopeful tears were bulging out. She was ready to sob with extreme amounts of joy. She felt as if she was watching a love-sick movie, in the privacy of her own bedroom, where the two main characters finally admit their love for each other. That's when everything comes out to the happy ending she was seeking. She was in her own fairy tale.

She couldn't believe it. All she wanted to do right now was to embrace Ryou around the waist as she finally told him her real feelings: one of the deepest forms of love there could be. The feeling that she felt couldn't exactly be explained in simple words. She could say "I love you" back to him, but she didn't want to do only that. She wanted to say it and show him it.

She did exactly what she wanted to do. She leaped forward and buried her head against his tuxedo. She held back her tears and tightened her grip around him. "Ryou..." She whispered her confession. She stepped back away from him, staring him into the eyes. A smile appeared on her face, surrounded by her rosy cheeks, still blushing from his confession.

Ryou became more alert when he heard an alarm ringing from his watch. It could only mean one thing.

"If you don't mind, could we do something tomorrow?" He suggested to her as he reaching out to hold her hand.

She nodded in acceptance, filled with glee.

"I'll be over to get you around nine, Baka Strawberry."

It had been forever since she heard that nickname. She really did love it, even though she made it seem like she didn't. She couldn't help but to love it when it was something that Ryou named for her.

He reached over and kissed her on the forehead. As his back turned, she figured something must have come up once his watch started to ring. Never once turning to look away, she watched him exit to the right. She wondered what it could be, eventually fading away, leaving her with thoughts of bliss and wonder.

Something that she had always wanted was a simple date with Ryou. It could be their carefree date without any worries about the chimeras. Why would she have to worry now that they defeated Deep Blue? There was no sign of the aliens since they had defeated them. Sure, once in a while they would eventually pop out of nowhere to see the girls, but it was nothing unusual. It was nothing troubling. It was more of a free-for-all play house. Ichigo knew how much Purin loved to play with her close friend, Tart. And she also knew about the secret feelings that Mint harboured inside. It really wasn't any much of a wonder why they still hung around. But now wasn't a time to think about that.

It was a time to worry. She rushed back into the ballroom where her friends were still dancing. Zakura and Keiichiro managing to sneak away from a moment for some air. Retasu was still dancing with the stranger from before. She gazed around for Mint. In the corner was Purin making displays for the guest. A smile appeared on Ichigo's face as she giggled when Purin fell over, still landing on her feet, like the childish monkey that she was.

There she was. In the other corner of the room, legs crossed and hands occupied as usual. Hands holding up her little cup filled with a brand new tea she had just recently bought, glancing straight forward at nothing particular.

Still glancing down, Mint took notice to her surroundings. "Hai Ichigo."

She smiled at Mint, in a sort-of obvious manner that Mint would expect Ichigo to want something. It was a usual case when Ichigo wandered up to Mint with a pair of puppy-dog eyes and a squeal coming from her when she begs Mint for whatever she had wanted in the first place. This would be the first time where she would not whimper in need, or beg for the object.

She would slowly manage her way to asking Mint, knowing that Mint would have no reason not to let her. It wasn't even that often when Ichigo came around to asking if she could borrow some kind of clothing. The first time was for a date with Masaya, but that never did play out correctly.

She tilted her head to the side, first making a little cat sound then getting back to her dirty work. "Minto…"

"Did you complete Part One of the plan?"

Was Ichigo at a lost? The whole plan idea that Mint was indicating about could have been less confusing whether she declared it was the "Capture the Blond" portion. The only thing that Ichigo did not understand was what she was talking about. The whole plan idea from the day earlier had slipped her mind once she began to think about what to wear for her date with Ryou.

"Part One? What? Part One of what plan?"

"Capture the Blonde Part One. Did you complete it?"

Ichigo's body began to slump as if she couldn't believe Mint had just said that out loud, on the side of the second ball that she had attended. It was bad enough that the first one was interrupted by a chimera who took control of such a talented pianist, but now she has to start on about _that_ plan?

"Umm…" She began to think with a bright smile on her face. Mint was starting to think that Ichigo was never going to do anything about her situation, and that she was would have to take action. It wouldn't mind her much even if she had to. "Well sort of."

"Sort of?" She said in an 'are-you-serious' way. "What do you mean sort of? Did you or did you not?"

"Uh."

An interruption from Mint. "Now I know you were dancing with him… Did you even talk to him? Or were you just trying to keep your feet off his?"

Ichigo's face grew a faint red as she recalled how she did crush his right foot at first when they managed their way on the dance floor. "Of course I talked to him! We're going on a date tomorrow!"

"Oh, you finally told him you liked him." Mint started to smile, feeling relief that she did not have to do anything. "It's about time, Ichigo. You know how long you've been harbouring those feelings for him? Every time I watch you two argue about nothing in general, there's always this lovey-dovey tension between you two that neither of you would admit. Even when you were with… Uh what's his name?"

"Masaya?"

"Yeah, him. Even when you were with Masaya, you were all over Ryou."

"I was?" Her face finally turned the red that captured the real Ichigo.

"Yeah. I'm so proud!"

"But I didn't tell him I liked him… Yet at least."

Mint blinked three times in a row, feeling kind of annoyed at the moment. She could believe that it never happened, though it would have been more fun to think otherwise. It was time to remove this annoyed expression and put on her optimistic expression. "There's always tomorrow. So what are you guys going for your…"

Mint had finally begun to understand where Ichigo was leaning towards, what Ichigo would like to have.

"Ichigo, want to come over after this? Well right now, it's kind of boring."

Ichigo squealed with joy. Yes, yes, she wanted to. Beginning with a cunning method, she made it look as if there wasn't anything she was after. "Sureeee."

Mint rose up from her chair, placing the tea cup on the table, pushing her chair back into place. Side by side, they left the ballroom and headed straight to her house. Once they arrived, Ichigo waited in Mint's bedroom for her. Mint said something about having to tell her maids about something highly important.

Ichigo jumped back into Mint's enormous bed, beginning to daydream about the next day. She began to wonder where Ryou would bring her, what they would do, and above all things, the different times or situations where she could finally come around to saying "I like you too, Ryou".

She began to squeal to herself, feeling more excited than she has ever felt before. She got up, looking around for some device that could let her find the time. A clock, oh where would a clock be in Mint's bedroom? She started to stroll around her room, still looking for one, ignoring everything else around her.

Mint peeped into her bedroom to see whether Ichigo had already made her way into her closet. She didn't, but Mint was curious what she could be doing wandering around so lifeless like that. Lifeless, no, more like clueless.

"What are you doing?"

Ichigo jumped, turning around waving her tail behind her. She quickly pressed her hands against her cat ears, declaring that she was searching for a clock. "If it's late, I need to call my folks."

"Oh you can do that after. Come with me."

Mint reached forward to grab Ichigo's hand. Dragging her across the bedroom, they entered her closet. Two large columns with about three times as many shirts, pants, skirts, or dressed Ichigo would have in her closet or her dressers.

A sign of excitement came from Ichigo. She attempted to keep it to herself but couldn't help to let it go. It was the third time that she had been in this closet and she just couldn't help but to wonder about all of the things that Mint had. It wasn't often that she would see Mint dress up, but when she did, she always did look amazing.

"Well what do you plan on wearing tomorrow? We can't have you wearing some regular civilian clothing, Ryou is high class…" She smirked, placing a smile upon her face, knowing that Ichigo might feel a little smaller than Ryou, gaining more determination to declare her feelings.

"That might be true," It had worked. "But I like Ryou. I like Ryou a lot. I won't give up."

Mint showed her a single outfit that would blow Ryou's mind away. Yes, Ichigo had found the perfect outfit. Yes, Ichigo had more determination than ever. Yes, she was going to win Ryou over completely. But then again, it really wasn't much that she would have to do— he's already fallen for her. All this was a keep safe to make sure this plan goes through.

Ichigo bowed down once to thank Mint, afterwards bowing down another three times to show her appreciation. She could always count on her best friend to help her through any of these events. Once outside, she waved goodbye to Mint, running forward to hit her house.

Opening the door, she shouts to her mother in the kitchen that she'll be busy tomorrow. Ignoring her father's screaming comments about what she'll be doing tomorrow, whether it's with a boy or not, she quickly runs upstairs with her ideal outfit in a bag.

She collapses on the bed, feeling so relieved for the first time in the last months. Her eyes closed instantly as her head touched the pillow, with melodies in her head, wondering about where Ryou would bring her. Could it be karaoke? Could it be a private beach with another glimpse of Ryou in a Speedo? Maybe it was the regular dinner and a movie date. Naw, her thoughts knew that regular 'date' wouldn't be something Ryou would do.

If none of those ideas, what would they be doing tomorrow?

She drifted off to sleep with the same melody inside her mind. Her thoughts were still restless as she dreamed of possible dates with Ryou, each one more perfect than the one before.

**End | Chapter 12**


	13. The Best Feature

I've been trying my best to update this story more often than before. Exams are finally over and drama is lingering around my house. But hey, I've managed to get chapter 13 written. So enjoy, but remember boys and girls, I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew.

(Written on January 31, 2007)  
**Chapter 13 | The Best Feature**

It was a perfect day for a date. He was waking up to the bright sun shining through his blinds and onto his eyes. Like the days before, there wasn't a single cloud in sight and the weather was hotter than the days before. There was a slight breeze in the air, but that was still alright due to the temperatures. You would need a breeze when it's that hot outside. He wouldn't want either of them to get dehydration during their date; not that he would ever let that happen.

As he lazed around in his bed for a couple minutes, still thinking about the future and wondering about the time, he slowly rose up. One foot on the ground then another. He rubbed his face with his right hand, attempting to rid of the sleep. This was not a time to get back into bed then rush as eight thirty came around. It was only seven, twelve am according to the blue table clock on his side desk. He would have enough time to shower, get ready then eat. By the time that he was finished with everything, he knew that she would be rushing back in forth in her house, attempting to find an outfit.

He could picture her putting on different shirts with different skirts or pants to see what would look nice. He knew she was like that, yet the whole idea that she was acting that way for a date with him, well, was still a fantasy for him. He titled his head back to look into his closet. What to wear, what to wear? A casual date with the girl of his dreams, an obvious factor of looking nice consumed him.

He wouldn't bother with his clothing. First things first, he needs to take a shower. Strolling into the bathroom, with his plaid red boxers a little below his hips, he dropped them onto the floor. Kicking them to the side, he got into the shower. Warm refreshing water fell down his back as it crashed into his head first. Going through his hair with the shampoo, he began to rinse his hair.

Once he was finished, he turned the knob and shook the water off his body. Ryou wrapped a towel around his lower body, a casual look for Ryou in the mornings, maybe something he'd consider looking like for the date, heading straight to his bedroom. He shook one more time as he closed the door behind him, tilting his head forward to look in the closet again.

'Never mind a formal look, just go with something casual.' His thoughts began to peer into his mind, convincing him that it wouldn't matter what he looks like, also that clothing is something girls would worry about. In other cases, Ryou would never worry about his looks, though when it came to Ichigo, it was something different. An impression wasn't what he wanted to make.

He threw on some regular clothing: white pants and his black sleeveless shirt with bands on the side. A pair of clothing he always did look good in. The plan was that he would stroll by her house a little before nine o'clock, so he could at least have a laugh as he listen to her rummaging around in her bedroom.

Fingertips lightly traced his steps as he came down the stairs. The cafe was empty, as it would be first thing in the morning. He wondered what time Keiichiro would be around to open it. 'Won't be long now,' he thought. Ryou strolled into the kitchen. He took notice to the unusual placement, something was off. He stared straight in front where there was a bag of groceries placed on the table with a note to the side.

"Eat healthy!" The note said with big bold letters. He couldn't recognize the writing, but still assume it was his good friend.

Leaving the bag there, he had already decided to deal with that later. He would search his fridge for some kind of breakfast. A simple breakfast so he wouldn't have to hear his stomach growl in need during their date.

Grabbing two eggs and three slices of bacon from the fridge, he strolled over to the oven where there was a frying pan there already.

Was he early? Maybe he was late. The sun was still shining on him with the occasional breeze cooling him off. He was only a couple blocks away from her house, wondering if he should pop up right now. He had already decided to go there early for his own reasons. I guess it wouldn't matter now, he knew either way he would have to deal with her obnoxious father.

He might get some kicks out of that.

He arrived at her house fifteen minutes before nine o'clock. Three knocks on the door. Ichigo's mother politely answered and asked if he'd like to come inside. He stepped inside their kitchen, glancing around, noticing the recent bread crumbs on the counter and the empty glass on the table.

"I'm here for Ichigo." He said after placing a smile on his face.

Her mother nodded, turning around the corner to call Ichigo.

Ryou heard loud noises. Of course, it was Ichigo. She was racing back and forth trying to find the outfit. Perhaps she had misplaced it under her bed. No, it was only on her dresser. She was running back and forth looking for her elastics and jewellery. He snickered to himself, knowing that she was getting this worked up over him.

He watched as Ichigo came down the stairs. She looked amazing. Hair worn down and her outfit; she looked amazing in it. It was a regular sun dress that you would see on little girls' dolls. With a white hat, a single clip in her hair and a big puffy white dress with the skirt in a strawberry and black dots pattern. She had captured Ryou's eyes.

Ryou, speechless, just coughed once she stood face to face with him. He nodded towards her mother and they were out the door.

"So," she began to twiddle with her fingers. "Where are we going?"

"Well we're walking…"

"Walking?"

"Yeah, I thought you could use some exercise, Baka Strawberry."

She frowned, acknowledging that he didn't lose his sense of humour or right to poke fun at her.

"There's something I want to check out first, it's over by the café. You don't mind, right?"

"Hush," Was she suppose to mind? She didn't really care whether she went to the zoo or the beach as long as it was with Ryou. "I don't really mind."

"Good, because I plan on going whether you want to or not." He smirked to himself.

Where was she going with him? What was so important for him to go during their date? She needed to know. She had thought that at least one of her day dreams from the other night would be right, but they were all wrong. It wasn't the beach, it wasn't karaoke, it wasn't dinner and a date, and so what could it be? What was close to the café? She had been there plenty of times, but couldn't get an idea in her head.

"You know, the first time I saw you. You walked through these doors with two animal statues on the sides..." Ichigo made a kind of 'uh huh, continue' groan sound from her mouth, her thoughts still wandering around, only paying so much attention to Ryou's story. "Keiichiro and I were looking for you. Well, we didn't know it would be you. I was sitting so close to the screen, that when I saw you, I felt so relieved that we found you. Business or not, I'm still relieved and glad."

"The animal exhibit? With that big ray of light attack-" Ichigo had a clear memory of what had happened that day, excluding the several hours after it had hit her. From the beginning to where she saw it, and the days afterwards. The extending periods of where she felt cat-like, purring and smelling raw fish from the other rooms. Those were her embarrassing moments since the very beginning.

Ryou smirked.

"You know you were really cute then. I was there, watching, making sure that nothing went wrong. It was fun to watch you do the flips and attack the fishes."

Ichigo groaned feeling more embarrassed than she felt those days. Her face growing a faint shade of red from her left ear to her right. She was trying to hold it back.

"Actually I think covering your cat ears and finding out you had a tail was the best part of that day. I couldn't stop chuckling to myself. Anyways, yeah, the animal exhibit. They updated some monuments; we're going to check it out."

It had been almost two years since she was last there. She remembered how she was enjoying it and wouldn't mind visiting again. But this time she would look up more information on the Iriomote Wildcat. She had always been interested in knowing more, but never found the time to look up the information herself. This way, she could look it up as she enjoyed herself with Ryou.

"Alright, that's okay."

"Are you sure, baka?"

She nodded; completely oblivious to the word 'baka' he had called her. A mew slipped out of her mouth as she began to speak. "I'll be spending more time in the wildcat section though."

"Uh huh," He glanced over towards Ichigo who seemed to be stuck in a dream world. Her head lifted up to the sky as her eyes continued piercing the clouds. Her thoughts were everywhere. "That's alright. But Ichigo, over here."

Reality had snapped back and she wasn't wondering about it anymore. She tilted her head smiling back at Ryou's grin. She jumped closer to him, grabbing his arm. Her face snuggled against his arm, as she grinned to herself.  
Finally, something she had dreamed of for so long came true: a regular date with her boss, Ryou Shirogane.

Ryou just sighed with contentment as they walked that fashion towards the exhibit.

They stood before the same old doors which Ichigo barely remembered. She had forgotten which type of animal were the two statuses as they entered the door. She hardly bothered to look this time too, a little occupied with the present and the one before her. Eagerly, she attempted to push Ryou to move a lot faster so she could get to the Wildcat section.

"Come on, Ryou." She nagged. "It's been over fifteen minutes. What's so important about the uhh,"

"They're call 'Takahe', little girl."

"I can read that... Who cares, they're little creepy birds. I don't want to look at them anymore." She covered her eyes, wandering in circles around Ryou. Being patient wasn't something that Ichigo could completely master. She could hold off for ten minutes, but any longer after that, would just be a trial. She began to whine some more, grabbing on to his jacket, pulling him forward. "I just want to go to the next one. Come on, let's go."

"They can't fly..."

"That's great. Can we go now?"

He finally gave into his nagging redheaded cat girl which he loved so much. He already knew how eager she was to learn about the DNA which was injected so long ago. He strolled behind her with both hands in his pockets. She was already ahead of him, jumping off the wall, with such a childish smile on her face. A smile indicating that she had never been here before.

She jumped forward into the next room. Feet planted on the ground, she was already in awe and learning more about the other part of herself. She began to purr to herself.

In the same slow manner as before, Ryou finally entered the same room. He strolled his body over towards Ichigo, still engaged with the animal display.

"I have... that inside of me?"

"Yeah, but you're more like an innocent kitten. You growl like the wildcat but your scratches don't hurt." She could feel the motion of his arms wrapping around her waist. She felt hot, nervous, confused and embarrassed. She could feel her cheeks turning the faint red Ryou was so familiar with. "It's kind of like how you purr like a kitten too."

Eventually letting go of the resistance of playing with them, he began stroking her cat ears. He could hear her trying her hardest to hold back her purrs.

"But you know, you should really hide those before those little kids notice."

He covered her mouth as she shrieked, finally realizing that they were showing. She got caught up in the sensation that all kittens loved and couldn't help herself anymore. Her hands went straight to her head, pushing them down. Did she have to worry about her tail, she wondered. No, not really. Ryou was still behind her, and she could feel his body pressing against her tail. Now all she had to do was calm down quickly before the kids strolled in front of her. How could she possibly calm down when Ryou was so close to her body?

**End | Chapter 13**


	14. His Startling Dealings

Oh gee, this chapter took so long to write. I've been kind of in between of writing free shots and then doing some kind of other form of art, neglecting my love for writing. So I as an apology, here's Chapter 14 along with Chapter 15 right around the corner! (I'll begin after I write my test)

Remember boys and girls, I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew and be cool; IUD, SIS, stay in school cause it's the best.

(Written on April 4, 2007)  
**Chapter 14 | His Startling Dealings**

'Calm down, Ichigo, calm down. I need to calm down. It's absolutely nothing, you know, it's just Ryou's body pressing against mine. Oh my god...' It appeared that her thoughts were more see-through than she had hoped for. She could notice the glare of excitement in his eyes as he continued pressing up against her.

She tried her best to hold back her squeals, getting ravelled up in all of the commotion, trying to force her cat features to retreat. It wouldn't be as easy as that though. She let out a rather large sigh though unnoticeable to the blond. 'I don't believe this is happening right now. He's so close; I can feel his breath.' Anything along those words would never be able to calm her down. The only thing that they were capable of doing is force her to grow more embarrassed as her cheeks began to glare a bright red. If he would only let go then maybe she could finally cool off. She didn't want him to let go but there were certain time and places for these kinds of situation.

"You know it would be a lot easier if you would just let go of me..."

He whispered words into her ears. He had the sudden urge to just start nibbling on her ear in order to see what kind of reaction she would have. It wasn't exact a kiss but it might be enough to turn her into the lovable kitten. That urge was immediately suppressed. "I know that..."

"Then why aren't you letting go?" She pretended to whine, thinking he was only doing this to get some self-satisfaction she would later hate him for; that the revealing to the world about her true identity could be taken as lightly as a joke. "Let go already. You know I would never let those kids see them."

"So? They'll just think it's a costume for the exhibit, you know, some fun cosplay. You like that stuff, don't you?" He tightened his arms around her, getting ready to let go and move her face closer to his own. He did so. He placed the same old familiar grin on his face. "Maybe we should turn you into a little black kitten. The kids could pet you and stroke those cat ears. As I recall, you did enjoy that."

She _did_ enjoy that? She could only admit to herself that she did enjoy it when people would stroke her ears. It had a relaxed feel to it but this was a situation she wouldn't allow. "I don't. Get off!"

"You don't? You were purring for hours while I was doing that walking you home just the other day. It was really cute of you."

Cute? Did he just call Ichigo cute? She shook her head back and forth, attempted pushing him away, just to rid more embarrassing thoughts with the lines that Ryou could pull out of nowhere. Her mind was filled with determination, though it really wouldn't matter in the end, but she felt more alive and ready to get out of it. 'Lines,' she thought. 'I won't let them work on me.'

He pulled her in closer, tightening the grip on her. That way while she was beating him off, he still had hold on her. She glanced towards the entrance. They were getting closer to finding out. They were only a two or three feet away from Ichigo, still bouncing off the way like enthusiastic kids would.

There he goes off; just going with his own ideas. She should have figured that much. As much as they were both stubborn in their own ways, Ryou would always have the upper hand when it came to them. Was there really any use of trying to avoid it? His lips were pressed against hers and she could feel the transformation beginning. The black kitten had just appeared in time for the children not to notice the transformation. The smoke was gone and they were pointing at the beautiful kitten as they whispered among each other.

Ryou picked her up, already ready to place her in one of their arms. "Want to pet her? I promise she won't bite. She's a good kitten."

They smiled at him and accepted the offer. The energetic bunch of children ran towards the stranger in hopes that they could hold the kitten first. A little girl began to scratch behind her ears making her way to pat the head. Their hands moved down her tiny body and reached for the tail.

Another kid behind the group of four children stared with curiosity. "Uhh, why are there a bell and a big pink bow there?" He kept his hand away from the tail as he glared up at Ryou with the most childish expression he hadn't seen for a long time. In a way, he had reminded him of Ichigo when she wouldn't get her ways and start beginning for that ill-mannered promised raise.

"Because it's a pretty bell!" One of them exclaimed.

"What's her name?"

"Her name is Ichigo."

Ichigo began to purr with enjoyment as the group of kids continued with their selves. She couldn't believe how good it felt, despite the one time where one of them accidentally pulled on her tail. She ignored it, trying her best now to bear her teeth or hiss at the children.

"Awe," he said with a large amount of sympathy. "I'm sorry kids. Ichigo seems to be hungry, so I'll have to take her away. So we'll see you kids later." He picked Ichigo up from the little girl's hands and started heading towards the exit direction. He turned around to see the group, along with their two teachers, waving back at them.

He started stroking her ears like the children were; snickering to himself about the complete control he had over Ichigo now. "Sorry that we couldn't stay at the wildcat for long but my little kitty is hungry. Is that her stomach I hear?"

Ichigo was bewildered with complete awe. It seems that he was the only one able to hear the concealed growl of her tiny stomach. Still she refused to reply to him until he finally turned her back. She would scratch him and bite during the most of the time until he finally lifted her to his eye height and did it.

He glanced around to make sure it was secure enough. He wouldn't want an adult walking in as the transformation begun. A secure place was in need. A shine his eyes declaring to Ichigo he had finally discovered the perfect action to take. It was her right to feel a little restless.

He carried her with her face pushed inside of his jacket so the security wouldn't be able to say anything about it. For a minute Ichigo could picture herself being carried like a princess. Her small cat arms flared up in the air, stirring back and forth as if she was literally erasing the dream bubble.

He leaned against the wall for a minute, waiting for the perfect moment to slip inside the room next to him. Unable to see what was going on, once again she tried her best effort to become aware. She scratched his hands, leaving small marks on his fingers and palm, and she attempted to turn around to sneak a peek.

Unsuccessful she was. Her face was still hidden inside of his jacket once he had already slipped into that room. He reached into his jacket searching on the side for the right grip on her tiny body. Once he got a good hold on her, he slowly brought her outside to reveal where she was. She blinked three times. She must of had been dreaming the entire day. The date hadn't begun, they never walked to the exhibit and she was not where she thought she was. She bites her paw trying to wake up from this nightmare.

It was no dream.

What stood before her was something she had only seen in the movies, or you could say it's kind of an opposite replica of where girls would gather to gossip, put on their makeup and fix their hair. She glanced down at the floor then all the way back up towards the set of sinks. She couldn't believe that he would bring her into the males' bathroom, what if there was someone- She quickly turned her head to face the stalls, in hope that she would at least find a man in there, attempting to reassure herself that Ryou was indeed a sinister man filled that disaster follows. If she found one then she could just tell herself that it was all another joke.

But there wasn't anyone else. The concept of a joke no longer existed in her mind. Her restless feeling was soon turning into some kind of anxiety. "Ryou... What are we doing here?"

"I thought you wanted to be human again. I was just trying to help you out." He sighed as he turned away, pretending that he put all his efforts into this. "I even sneaked the kitten past the security. I was so cool. They would have never thought I'd carry a little cat with him, let alone a girl. "

"We're in a boy's bathroom. How is that going to help me?" She began to feel a growl come over her. Restless feelings remained within her as angry was starting to shine through. "You'll get me stuck! Some old man will see! We'll get in trouble! They'll think we wer-"

She had stopped in her tracks.

"Huh?" He lifted up the kitten to make sure he could look directly at her. He wanted to stare into the cat's eyes as he continued. "What's that? They'll think we were doing what?"

"Huh?" Ichigo figured the best thing she could do right now was to play naive and innocent; make it seem like she didn't know what he was talking about but still give off the impression that it would end up bad. "They'll think something is up!"

"No... That's not what you said. You said 'we were'... So please, Baka, elaborate."

Ichigo had already figured out the rest of the sentence before she stopped mid-air. She had decided it would be best not to even get into that topic; might have made him think she had been expected something all this time. At the moment the most she expected from Ryou Shirogane was a couple of harsh jokes or remarks followed by those random moments where his good qualities always followed through.

"They'd think we were-" What to say, what to say, what could she possible say to Ryou right now that would make everything all better. Her mouth let out a small hiss as she cried out. "Together!"

She had buried herself deep. With sudden movements, she was already transformed back into her regular self except this time she could feel a difference. Usually after the transformation, she always found herself both knees and hands on the floor. This time she was standing up, spread in the arms of her crush. Her wide were wide open. She wasn't in doubt. She wasn't dreaming. She knew for sure that this was real but it came as one of the biggest shocks. She knew from experience that this was a rare case; all the other ones were completely small and ended up turning into one or the other. Never once was she in this kind of predicament. For the first time she was locked completely in a real kiss with Ryou Shirogane.

**End | Chapter 14**


	15. Foul Play?

Here's my as-promised and followed Chapter 15 brought to you by yours truly. I'm not sure when I'll have the next chapter up since I have many started one shots to finish, so we'll just have to see when it comes along. I'll just make sure it's not one of those long-wait works. Enjoy it because it's only going to get better after this. So keep those reviews coming, they inspire me to write.

Remember boys and girls, I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew.

(Written on April 12, 2007)  
**Chapter 15 | Foul Play**

If she was being sincere with herself she would have been able to own up that this kiss was leaving her breathless, gasping for air while she fell back. She could feel his arm slowly move across her body when he was finally letting go of her. Her body has no balance what so ever; it had decided on its own to let her fall. The air passing through her hair was only making her realize how hot her body felt. Burning is the word she would use to describe it. There was no other way she would have been able to capture that feeling.

As a reaction to his kiss her hands promptly went straight to her lips. Her cold fingertips pressed against her lips lightly as her body laid in aches and pains. Her lips felt swollen with joy as they continued to burn. Ichigo's eyes haven't moved a single inch, always placed on Ryou, waiting for him to do something else. She watched as his arm starting moving in her direction.

She squirmed with anticipation, wondering what he could be doing now. Vivid, bright and detailed images passed through her head for a single moment. It was one of those scenes that one of her friends would show her from a Shoujo manga. Here in that place, alone in the boy's bathroom together, would something like that happen to her? Was Ryou the kind of guy to go along with it despite the obvious factor of getting caught? She had never done something like that before. Was she even ready?

The answer was indefinite. Despite her age, even now she would have thought twice about it.

Her staring persisted. Every single motion that he would make, she would have noticed that very moment. She grew surprised to see him kneel down after a pause. She wondered if he was going to apologize for his sudden behaviour. 'That's something he should do!' She had thought to herself pretending to be annoyed about the kiss. Yeah, she was annoyed however not about the kiss. It was more at the fact that he could just stand there looking at her. But now he was on the same level with her.

The sudden deviant placed his hands beside her two legs and started crouching up closer to her. She stayed frozen. Her big brown eyes refused to close when they noticed that his face was getting closer to him. Is he going to kiss her again? A layer of blond hair brushed against the side of her face. He wasn't aiming for her face but for her ear; she could feel him beginning to nibble on her ear. Was this the real Ryou Shirogane? Was he finally showing a side that she had never imaged before? It seemed to be true.

It was something she never expected to have on her body. It was something that she hadn't even thought of before. A mark on her body; something more distinguished than the other one she had received several years ago. Looking straight up at him, she knew what he had done. She could feel it burning. All the places that Ryou had touched with his lips were burning. Her lips, her ears, her neck.

"This... this..." She was utterly speechless, compelled to say something, but unable to find the right words.

"That?" He smirked to himself. "It's obviously my property claim, Baka. Now get up. We're going to have to go before we get caught here."

With all that had happened, it was obvious to him that she forgotten that she was in the boy's bathroom. It was the expression on her face that confirmed his theory. He reached out his hand only to help her up. "Caught?"

"Yeah, silly. We're alone. Here." A short pause before revealing what she had forgotten. "Alone in the boy's bathroom. Or is this what you wanted?"

Her shriek was muffled by his hand. Her body swung around, suddenly pushed into the door and out of the bathroom where she belong. As soon as she was out, she glanced both ways to see if someone had seen her. She was in the clear. She scuffed out some air, feeling a little revealed, after that she leaned her back against the wall next to the door.

He shook his head in reflection, wondering if he maybe had gone a little too far with the kiss mark on her next. It was an obvious mark, even now in her clothing; she wouldn't be able to cover it. What would her friends say when they see it. With the feeling of guilt tracing along the side of pride, he still would have regretted not making one. A mark of his own was placed on her body.

It was time to go out and face the lights. He wondered if she would scream about the mark, whether she would make a scene. He opened the door and strolled past her. He stopped in his tracks and waited for it.

She did not do anything. She did not say anything. She never even opened her mouth. He turned around to face her. A daring smile lit up on her face. She raced over to him, grabbed his arm and questioned the where they'll be going next.

"Huh?"

"Where are we going? I'm hungry." With her best effort she concealed the growls that her stomach was making. She started to pull him along, her body language suggesting moving it. "I think I want some sandwiches. Actually, no, not really… I think I would love to have some frozen yogurt right now. Or maybe one of those delicious cakes that Keiichiro makes."

"Well cakes are out of the question." He groaned a bit. Something like that would end up making him hurl especially with the plans for later tonight. Since he wanted to make sure everything would turn out perfectly, he would do his best to avoid those kinds of desserts but frozen yogurt? "Oh… I know what we could do. But we will have to stop at my Café if that's okay."

"Yeah yeah, sure, whatever; it doesn't matter to me." It wouldn't have mattered where she went after the exhibit as long as she was still alone with Ryou. Any interest in a group date had vanished throughout the night as she dreamt of one with her and one of her close friends. She didn't want to have that; the restriction either one of them may have felt would have been unbearable to her. And there was still the factor about her confession.

'Maybe I should tell him now.' She questioned herself but denied it as soon as she remembered what had happened earlier. It was strange that she had forgotten it like that, the burning sensation was still lingering.

Parting his arm, her hand made its way to his hand. Her fingers hinted to him as they were slowly getting tangled in his own. Another concealed squeal came from inside; she was still hiding all the excitement bottled up. She began to wonder why they needed to stop at the café first. Oh well, that wouldn't matter. They were walking hand in hand and soon they'll be at some nice stand ordering sandwiches or maybe a burger, or something nice to fill her up.

As they arrived at the entrance of his little pink café, she couldn't help to snicker at the fact that a boy like her boss, Ryou Shirogane, owns such a café. Even if it was just a cover, it was still pretty cute of him. She had always secretly giggled to herself about that aspect. Even on the first day she went there, when they declare that she would work for them as a waitress, she could have never believed.

Ryou Shirogane, strict and fierce, owns a cute little place like this. She had remembered about the other fact that he was able to sew. She could imagine Ryou sitting on a chair, legs crossed, with a needle in his hand and fabric against his lap. All the designs he had planned out were laid across on the floor. She wanted to know why he actually does sew.

"Ryou…" She glanced up. "When did you learn how to sew?"

"I don't know. Years ago." He exhaled heavily, trying to avoid all obstacles. "It was a long time ago."

That didn't answer her why. Maybe it was time to be more direct about it. It was something that she was able to do, something that she didn't mind asking. It was a lot better than asking him what kind of girls that he liked. "So why did you learn how to do it?"

"I had lots of spare time to kill, being ahead of my class and what not, so I thought why not?"

"That's actually kind of cute. Do you sew a lot?"

"No. Just when I made your- you girls' dresses."

"Oh." She looked a little bit disappointed that he had mentioned all of them as well as astonished at the fact he almost said 'her dresses'. Faint red appeared on her right cheek; like always her emotions were visible.

As they finally entered the café doors, he told her to wait for a moment. He would be back in a jiffy.

Like he had said, it has only taken a single moment. He was out of the kitchen like he has just walked in and walked out, as if he had went into the kitchen with no real purpose but to make her wait, but he didn't come out alone. He wasn't followed by a person, instead a small brown basket covered by a red plaid clothe swung behind his leg.

Her heart began to flutter. Yes, she had figured it out. But where would it be by? She imagined different plant life sceneries but nothing seemed to fit Ryou's personality. A scene by a couple of trees with a nice view of the entire city wasn't exactly his kind of straight forward style. Neither was one of those public parks where families would bring their children and their family pets to play a nice game of catch. Nor even the single thought of a nice quiet place where they could get to by car. She had remembered about how they would be on foot.

He rushed towards her gaining speed as he came closer. With his free hand, he was able to grab a hold of her right hand to turn her over and rush out of the café before anyone came around. Even if he knew that Keiichiro wasn't around, nor would any of the other Mew Mews be there, he just wanted to quickly get to it. He was also concerned about how hungry she was, she must have been starving if he was able to hear the growling of the kitten's stomach.

He reminded himself. 'Yeah, that was really attractive.'

Pushing the door open as she hurried along with him, the door was shoved close with the back of his foot. Why did it appear that he was in such a hurry? Where exactly would he be taking her in the first place? Questions retreated in the back of her mind as she watched him.

The look of determination placed across his face was creating a thrilling feeling in the pit of her stomach. Anticipation was not the word to describe this situation. But the curiosity, even if she had tried to let go of it, was too much to hold for a single moment.

"Ryou?" She called out. "Where are we going?"

"To a hotel, of course, Baka." He responded coldly.

What did he just say? She thought she heard it correctly but maybe she was deeply mistaken. There was no possible way that Ryou could or would bring her to a hotel during their date. Today was supposed to be of bliss; nothing painful like that, nothing to ruin the day. Besides if he was planning a shoujo-themed date, then they wouldn't have a problem with _his_ bedroom, considering that no one was at his café. No one was coming either.

If she were to glance up, she would just see that determined look on his face. She would have grown more restless and worried about it. That burning sensation became more noticeable to her. It has slowly faded away while they were walking on the pathway, now it was growing hotter. Not only her neck but her face also. A bright shade of red must have been planted all over her face. Were they really going there?

**End | Chapter 15**


	16. Dirty Thoughts

Um... I seem to have been distracted with my disaster of a love life. But I suppose things turn around and come out for the better. I just need a little more inspiration, I guess. But here you go. You all deserve it after a long wait.  
Remember boys and girls, I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew .

(Written on February 5, 2008)  
**Chapter 16 | Dirty Thoughts**

She tried to be reasonable, to sort it out herself in her thoughts, but nothing sane could come up. A hotel, a hotel he said to me! She couldn't believe her ears. Why did she feel so anxious about it though? She started to picture what could arise from such events.

She could almost see what the hotel room would look like. He would ask the clerk for a room on the fifth story with large windows to view the scenery. The carpet would be a dark brown with beige walls to go with it. A round glass table surrounded by two wooden chairs was in the corner just across from the window. In front of the windows laid two cream sofa chairs with another small table in between the two.

Her fingers rose to her mouth as she started to bite on them. The more she thought about it, the more nervous she became. All that was left to imagine was the bed. Her mind jumped past and she could already imagine his entranced expression. She felt more flushed. Her entire face was red, including her ears.

Ryou turned around to look at his Strawberry. He couldn't believe it.

"I see you're thinking dirty thoughts."

He dragged her along to his car. He opened the door and pushed her in mumbling words. He ran around his car jumping in and putting it into motion. He turned his head to smirk at her and drove away.

She held her head low continuing to stare at her fingers. She pondered the idea of asking him whether they really are going there or not yet words were never spoken. And if they were going to one, then it would only mean one thing. 'He would want to...' She shrieked once again, only to be more embarrassed than before.

"I didn't know you were such a pervert, Baka Strawberry. If I knew this before, I wouldn't have done anything."

He snickered to himself knowing he was getting a rise out of Ichigo.

"Ahh!" She shouted out loud, her face still red as ever. "I wasn't thinking anything like that! It was more like, uhh, umm..." She racked her brain for an excuse that would work on Ryou. When it comes down to him, he means serious business so you have to play it right. At least that's what she tells herself. She could hear her stomach growling some more and the idea came through. "We're having a nice dinner at a Hotel! That's all it is, yeah. That's all."

She sighed with relief, believing she had pulled it off. He just smirked and went along with it. "I hope you're in the mood for some Chinese cuisine then."

'I guessed right!' She told herself, feeling proud. She was beginning to feel a lot closer to Ryou than before, even with the intimate kiss from earlier.

"I bet you were thinking those dirty thoughts when you spent the night at the cafe that time..." He smirked to himself, pulling out a pair of sunglasses. "I bet you were going to jump me in the middle of the night too; good thing I was on watch. But then again that really wouldn't explain why you wouldn't take that one shower with me..."

"What? You really did say that?" She shrieked anxiously.

"No, you just have selective hearing. Your perverted mind wants to hear that kind of thing."

She began thinking to herself, remembering every aspect of that day. The first thing that came to her was the small dream she was having of Ryou. She let out a sigh, wondering if her confession was going to be similar to the one in that dream. She called him a baka for he wasn't bothering to listen to her once again. But that wouldn't be the case now; she already knows he likes her. She wanted to tell him how she felt but when would it be the perfect moment?

But that wasn't all that happened that day. She didn't tell her friends who her "mysterious" crush was and that gift... Was it really from a secret admirer or maybe Ryou was just lying to her about it. Maybe now was the moment to reassure herself.

"Shirogane... Remember that gift that was in the girls' changing room?"

"Huh. What are you talking about?" He asked in confusion. Did he really forget all about that?

"The black kitten on a strawberry ornament... You said it was from a secret admirer, but it was from you, right?" She seemed to sound hopeful; wishing so much that it was from Ryou. "Right?"

"Yeah, of course. Who else would like you, Baka."

She smiled to herself, feeling refreshed. As soon as she noticed what he had said last, she couldn't help but to giggle after shouting at him. Looking ahead, she wondered which restaurant they're going to. 'Chinese cuisine... maybe we're going somewhere far. He did say that we were going to be walking; now we're driving somewhere." She could feel herself growing more excited, attempting her hardest to control her cat-like features.

Thirty minutes later and they arrived at a regular parking lot. Ryou parked between two vehicles, opening his door. Ichigo jumped outside after she locked her door. Ryou reached in the back seat grabbing the basket he had picked up from his cafe earlier.

"Where now?" She asked in anticipation.

"We're close, don't worry about it."

She jumped closer to him, smiling so much, grabbing his arm. Ryou, shocked as ever, couldn't help but to blush.

They walked along, arm in arm, the busy streets of downtown Tokyo. Ichigo looked at the stores on her side, wishing she had the money to buy random cute clothing. It was a real shame, she just thought to herself that she'll have to take the Mews down here and go on a wild shopping spree. She could hardly wait for such an activity.

"Stop day-dreaming, Baka." Ryou sighed, knowing that her imagination is always going off in different directions. He wished she would at least focus on him for a little while. He stopped in his tracks, asking her a simple question. "What are you looking at?"

"They have such cute clothing in all these stores, I'm really jealous." She blushed a little bit.

Another sigh escaped, "Heh, figures. We can check out the stores after, alright?"

She squealed to herself with delight. "Okay!"

They walked a little further until they arrived at a local park. Ichigo looked at Ryou with confusion, "I thought we were going to a hotel... Er, I mean a restaurant."

"A hotel, huh? I guess you really did want to book a room for the night then."

Ichigo remained speechless. She wondered if she was the only one thinking of that. 'Why would he say we were going to a hotel then?' She finally understood: he was merely just getting a rise out of her. She felt stupid.

He set the basket on the grass, pulling out a red plaid blanket from it. He laid it on the ground, moving the basket in the center of the blanket. "Well I was serious when I said some Chinese cuisine. Sorry if my cooking isn't that great."

He sat down right beside it, Ichigo across from him. He looked up at her, she was smiling back at him. He pulled out different bowls setting them down. He took out spare bowls and utencils. He waited as Ichigo served herself; he was suprised at the fact that she took a lot more than he did, but then again she was a lot hungrier. You could still hear her stomache growl. They began to eat, talking to each other about the nice scenery. It was such a beautiful day, Ichigo was glad that they could do this outside rather than in a grey dull building. A fresh breeze of air rushed past the two of them, they were feeling more rejuvenated. Ichigo rested her body on the grass as Ryou quickly cleaned up their picnic.

Was now the perfect moment for her confession. His feelings were clear and hers were untold, she glanced over at him. "This was... It was really perfect."

"Oh, don't be silly, Baka. The day has only begun..." He said with a smirk, falling on his back.

'Only begun, huh.' She could see that, it was only thirty after four. It was still day outside, so what could they be doing next. She never thought that Ryou could come up with such activities for a simple date.. But then again, with his confession, it seemed more realistic as the minutes passed by. She wanted to get closer to him but stayed in her place. They stayed there silent as the breeze passed by. Ichigo closed her eyes.

"Ryou, I've been meaning to tell you something..." Yeah, she told herself, it's time to make a move. "I've always been... well, I've always had feelings for you. I just.. I suppose I only denied them because we were always fighting."

Ryou raised his body, moving closer to her. His upper torso was on top of her. His fingers were playing in her hair. "I know. I love you too."

A sigh of relief came out followed by a smile. 'I finally did it!'

"Baka, we've got to go." Ryou said almost immediately, waking her from another day dream.

"Rats!" She said out loud with disappointment.

"What? I said we've got to go." She got up so he could pick up the blanket. He stuffed it into the basket and they were on their way back to the car. She wondered where was the next stop of the day. She looked up at him, only feeling a little nervous. She remembered passing by a hotel on the way to the lot, she kept telling herself that Ryou wasn't that kind of guy. 'We only slept together and that was innocent!' Her face was flushed, remembering that incident. 'I guess I'll just have to wait and find out.'

**End | Chapter 16**


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